Devious
by hpangel
Summary: Ginny Weasley is an auror and a damn good one at that. But what happens when a familiar and not so welcome face gets transferred into her department and Harry Potter becomes her new boss? Can she make it work? Adventure with a touch of my usual humor.
1. The Worst Day Ever

**A/N:** I really can't believe I'm posting another story already. Oh well. This plot bunny was persistent bugger. I could only fight it off for so long.

**Disclaimer:** All characters recognized in this story belong to J.K. Rowling.

**Summary: **Draco decides to commit the ultimate rebellion by becoming an auror. But what happens when Ginny Weasley gets assigned as his partner and Harry Potter is his boss? Can they use each other to their advantage? Or will they kill each other? Rated M because I can't control Ginny or Draco's mouths or whatever hormonal infractions that may or may not occur later.

**Devious Chapter 1: The Worst Day Ever **

_***And I feel like I'm living the worst day over and over again. _

_And everyday is the worst day ever. _

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **

"Ginny!" Daphne Greengrass, currently Ginny's best friend and roommate screamed at the closed door in front of her. "Ginny Weasley get your bony ass out here this instant. You can't stay in there forever!" Daphne continued to scream, pounding on the door.

"Watch me!" Came the muffled answer from behind the said door.

Daphne sighed. It had been exactly three hours since Ginny's latest squeeze had broken up with her and the first thing she had done when she got home was lock herself in the bathroom to cry by herself into a migraine. Now normally, Daphne was sensitive to her roommate/best friends emotional needs but Ginny's bathroom break up routine had never lasted this long before. Plus, the neighbors had already complained. Twice.

"Ginny, you've been in there for three hours. Get a hold of yourself. He wasn't even that good looking!" Daphne added in a desperate attempt at being soothing.

"Are you kidding me?!" Came Ginny's high pitched squeal. "He was gorgeous! But that's not even the point. The point is _he_ dumped _me_, for that stupid blonde wire hanger of a slut, Chastity Carmichael. Who does that?"

Daphne gasped, "He's dating Chastity Carmichael now? You never told me that. She's hot."

The door burst open. Daphne jumped and stared at her best friend. Ginny was a mess. Her hair was in disarray, her eyes were puffy and red as was her nose, there were bags under her eyes and she was pale as sheet.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Ginny's eye was twitching now and Daphne gulped.

"I said, what a worthless slut bag of a human being that girl is. I mean, who wants to date a model anyway? They never eat; what would you do on dates?"

Ginny just glared at her friend for a moment then sighed dejectedly.

"How did I get here Daph?" She asked tossing the tissue that was in her fist in the wastebasket. "This isn't me. When have I ever gotten so riled up about a man before?"

"Uh never," Daphne said quickly. "You didn't even bat an eyelash when Harry Bleeding Potter dumped you your 5th year and here you are, crying your eyes out over some hot shot wannabe Lockhart."

"Ugh. You're right. I need to get out. I guess I wasn't willing to face the press yet either. I can see the Rita Skeeter headline now, 'Hot Shot Auror/Harry Potter's Ex-Squeeze Gets Dumped by aspiring Author/Quidditch Star. Ugh. I could vomit."

"Don't be ridiculous," Daphne scoffed. "Skeeter would never call you a hot shot." She grinned cheekily.

"Witch," Ginny frowned.

"And?" Daphne replied, he wand appearing suddenly in her hand. She twirled it once for dramatic affect which caused red sparks to shoot out the ends, almost igniting the potted plant that was situated next to the door. "Oops."

"Right. My best friend is an idiot. No wonder my life sucks," Ginny groaned.

"Oh shut up, like you've never done that before. C'mon, lets get you all cleaned up." Daphne was suddenly brisk.

Ginny stared at her friend quizzically, "Why?"

"We're going out," Daphne grinned.

"Why?" Ginny asked again, incredulous.

"Because," Daphne started, "There's nothing like crazy hate-sex with a total stranger to take your mind off cheating ex-boyfriends."

"Promise?" Ginny sniffed, looking at her roommate with doleful eyes.

Daphne smirked, "I was a Slytherin wasn't I?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Don't remind me. Alright, have your way with me." Ginny spread her arms wide dramatically as Daphne laughed.

"Good, now go shower."

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

"Daphne!"

Daphne looked up from her morning messages to be met with a rampaging red head who looked about ready to shoot hot pokers out of her ass and a paper flailing in her grasp. It was the next morning and after bringing home the fantastically stupid but deviously hunky one night stand which brought on an entire night of crazy drunk sex that had kept her up all night, (not to mention the very tidy disappearing act he pulled earlier that morning) Daphne was almost positive that Ginny would be in better spirits today. She watched as her friend drew nearer and spotted the look on her face.

She had been wrong.

As soon as Ginny was close enough to her desk she flopped the Daily Prophet unceremoniously in front her best friend, jabbing at the front headline. It read_: Harry Potter's Ex-Squeeze Gets Dumped by Gorgeous, Aspiring Author/Quidditch Star_.

"See?!" Ginny was near hysterics. "I _told _you he was gorgeous…"

"Ginny." Daphne looked her friend straight in the eye, "It's Rita Skeeter. Do we really care who she thinks is gorgeous?"

"That's not the point," Ginny glared, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Oh? And what is?" Daphne prodded, rearranging a stack of parchments on her desk into a neat little pile.

"The point is everyone knowing what is going on in my personal life!" Ginny wailed.

Daphne shot her a significant look, "Ginny, no one is going to know it was you."

Just then, Susan Bones who had just landed a job as the Head Auror's secretary walked in. "Hey Weasley, heard about the break up, that's rough, hope you're okay."

"Cept her," Daphne amended quickly, trying to hide a grin.

"Hey Ginny! Owl just got in for you, left an envelope on your desk," Natalie McDonald called from the front of the department.

"It's not a howler is it?" Ginny called back to her. Natalie shook her head.

"_Accio _Letter," Ginny said, pointing her wand towards the open door of her office. The letter came zooming towards her and Ginny caught it neatly out of the air. Once she ripped the envelope open and scanned the contents however, the curious look on her face quickly turned into one of annoyance.

"Who's it from?" Daphne prodded, rising out of her chair to peek over the parchment.

"Ron." Ginny deadpanned, handing it to her with a dark scowl on her face.

Daphne glanced down.

_Ginny – _

_Just read in the prophet about what happened. Want me to deck him for you? Or at least plant some of WWW's products in his flat. Fred and George have been dying to try out some of their new prototypes. Let me know. Hope you're doing okay. _

_Love,_

_Ron. _

"And him…" Daphne trailed off, the smile drooping a bit off her face now. "Well that was sweet of him though." She brightened up slightly.

"This day can't get any worse," Ginny sighed.

Before Daphne had a chance to reply, the door to the office three doors down from Ginny's, which consequently belonged to Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was also her boss opened and the man in question stepped out of it, calling for silence.

"I have a few announcements to make," He called out in his deep rumbling voice. "I would first like to announce to my greatest pleasure that I will be stepping down from my Head Auror position and going into early retirement this year."

There were a few shocks gasps but mostly this news was met with polite applause. Kingsley Shacklebolt had been threatening to retire for years. He was actually offered the Minister position many times and had turned it down every time, claiming he wanted a quiet life after his auror days and didn't want to worry about running the wizarding world while he was trying to relax. The two just didn't go hand in hand you see.

"Which brings me to my next announcement, who will be succeeding me? Well who would be more fit than the one destined by fate to vanquish evil? Harry step out here son."

This time no one was shocked when a red faced Harry Potter emerged behind Kingsley from inside the office. Apparently the Boy Who Continues To Live had just been told of his promotion moments before it was announced. The applause this time however, was considerably more enthusiastic.

A flash bulb went off from a corner of the room. Everyone turned to see Colin Creevey standing in the back with a huge camera in hand and an even bigger smile on his still boyish face. Ginny frowned. Old school friend or not, she was _not_ having the warm fuzzies about anyone from the press right now. She was abruptly shaken out of her homicidal thoughts about the Daily Prophet when she was jostled by the surge of her colleagues eagerly starting forward to ring Harry's hand and congratulate him over and over for his hard earned promotion. Harry had been working in the aurors office for only 5 years now having finished his auror training right out of school, but just like most things that Harry did, it came to him naturally and he had quickly made his way up the ranks.

"I guess today isn't _so_ bad," Ginny relented to Daphne as she watched Harry continue his impression of an overripe tomato while wringing the endless streams of hands that came his way. "At least I have an in with my new boss."

When the hub dub of excitement over Kingsley's last announcement had died down, he cleared this throat again. "And for my last announcement, I'd like to introduce to you all the newest member of our team. He's just transferred here from the Department of Mysteries and to my greater knowledge a schoolmate of Harry's am I correct?" At this he had turned to Harry for confirmation and Ginny saw Harry's eye twitch before he nodded. Warning bells went off in Ginny's head.

"_Uh oh. He did the eye twitch. Harry _never_ does the eye twitch unless-"_

"Everyone," Kingsley continued in his booming voice. "I'd like you to welcome Draco Malfoy."

Kingsley shuffled forward now, making room for the third person to now emerge from his office. This time, his announcement was met with absolute and utter silence. Malfoy smirked. Daphne blinked.

"Sweet mother of Merlin I spoke too soon," Ginny mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut and pinching the bridge of her nose.

Kingsley turned to Ginny, "What was that Weasley?"

Ginny's eyes snapped open at the exact same time that Draco's head whipped over to stare at the sound of her name.

"Nothing sir," Ginny replied quickly, "Just getting jazzed up about our new colleague." She said through her teeth, forcing a smile that turned out more like a grimace.

Harry tried unsuccessfully to hide his snort of laughter with a cough and Kingsley had to thump him on the back a couple of times before he regained use of his windpipe.

"Well I'm glad to hear it," Kingsley said brightly to Ginny once Harry was breathing on his own again. "Because I do believe you are looking at your new partner."

"Harry?" Ginny asked, incredulously. Because obviously, Kingsley Shacklebolt wouldn't be cruel enough to stick her with—

"No, no, Malfoy of course."

Ginny stared at her now former boss uncomprehending. As if she needed more of a reason to hate this day. This was just the bloody fucking cherry on the shit split Sunday. Kingsley was still smiling, but after a few seconds the smile seemed to falter as he caught the deer in headlights look he was getting from Ginny.

"Weasley?" He asked, starting to sound concerned.

"Uh oh, I think she's in shock, does anyone have anything shiny we can wave at her?" Malfoy said, glancing around as if in search for said shiny object.

The sound of Daphne's poorly concealed chortle brought Ginny down to earth and her fingers itched to find her wand, but she settled for a death glare instead. Daphne merely cleared her throat and beamed at her. The sound of Malfoy's soft chuckle at the exchange brought Ginny's attention back to the tall blonde standing next to her old boss, and new enemy, and her old friend and now new boss.

"Ginny?" It was Harry who spoke up this time. "Are you sure you're alright? Maybe you should step outside for a bit."

"Nonsense, Weasley needs to show Malfoy around his new department and bring him up to speed on the new cases we've been working on." Kingsley said, jovial once again.

Now Harry's wasn't the only eye that was twitching.

"Come now, lots to do, back to work everyone!" Kingsley announced, clapping Harry on the shoulder again and ushering Draco forward to where Ginny stood rooted to the spot in front of Daphne's desk.

"Greengrass, I didn't know you were in the auror office." Draco supplied in way of greeting.

"Well you wouldn't, we didn't exactly keep in touch after school now did we?" Daphne quirked a dark eye brow.

"Fair point," Draco drawled then he turned to Ginny.

"Well, shall we, partner?" He smirked.

Ginny just continued to glare. He raised his eyebrows in question and Ginny marched right passed him without another word.

"Well this is going to be interesting…" Draco said under his breath before taking off after the volatile red head.

Once Ginny reached the hallway leading out of the department she finally ceased her hasty exit and sighed, leaning up against the brick. She wasn't alone for long.

"Listen Weasley I—"

"Don't," Ginny held up a finger, "talk to me."

"Well I don't know how that's going to work seeing as we're going to be working together." Draco said smartly, crossing his arms across his chest in a defiant pose.

Ginny closed her eyes and counted to ten. The man had been her partner for less than five minutes and she already wanted to hex his ferrety face into oblivion.

"Let's get one thing unavoidably clear Malfoy. We only speak when absolutely necessary; you don't call on me or even acknowledge me unless it has to do with a case. And you most certainly will _not_ be following me around like some annoying little sidekick in a cheesy muggle super hero movie. Got it?"

"So, no tour then?" Draco smiled winningly.

"Git."

"Hag."

"Ugh!" Ginny threw up her hands and proceeded to storm off again in a huff, muttering profanities as she went.

Draco stared after her for a moment before sighing and following her once more.

"Weasley!" He called.

Ginny ignored him and quickened her pace. Draco grit his teeth and launched himself into a full sprint to catch up to her. Ginny never slowed down.

"What do you want Malfoy?"

"I'm supposed to go over our first assignment with you."

Ginny halted so abruptly that Draco had to backtrack a few steps to get back at her level.

"We already have an assignment together?" Ginny's hands were quivering.

"Yes." Draco stated.

Ginny didn't respond as she turned on her heel and hastily started a fast paced walk/jog in the opposite direction of where she was previously headed.

"Where are you going _now_?" Draco asked, exasperated as he once again found himself floundering after his fire headed new partner.

"To kill my new boss," Ginny responded darkly.

"_Our_ new boss," Draco said sourly.

"Whatever."

"I thought you were friends?" Draco asked, his longer legs keeping him level with Ginny as she half jogged back to the auror headquarters.

"Yes. The key word there being _were_."

They had reached the department by now and Ginny's eyes were fixed on one thing and one thing only, the door that now read:

_Harry Potter_

_Head of Auror Department_

Ginny didn't even bother to knock as she barged into her ex boyfriend turned co-worker turned ex-coworker turned new boss, soon to be turned ex-boss and ex- among the _living._

The Boy Who Lived glanced up from his paper work as Ginny, for the second time that morning tramped up to a desk in a fury, slamming both palms down on top, splaying her fingers out and moving her face within an inch of Harry's spectacles.

"Hello Harry," Ginny said; her voice eerily calm despite her demeanor.

"It wasn't my idea Ginny I swear. Trust me, I tried to get you a different partner I did, but Kingsley just wasn't having it. After what happened to your last one—"

"What happened to my last one?!" Ginny raged throwing her hands in the air. "She got pregnant! You people make it sound like she _died_. People have babies all the time, _Potter_. So you stick me with the incredible bouncing ferret and it's supposed to make me feel all warm and fuzzy and stable?"

"Well he does have a point there Weasley. _I_ sure can't get pregnant."

"Shut up Malfoy," The two former Gryffindors chorused.

"I'm just _saying_," Draco muttered under his breath.

Harry cocked an ebony brow at him and Draco rolled his eyes, setting himself down in a plush leather arm chair that was situated by the door.

"Look Ginny, you needed a new partner. Nine months is a long time to wait and you know you can't do any of the high profile cases by yourself. We need you and unfortunate as it is, we need Malfoy too." Harry admitted this last part grudgingly and made sure Draco heard the reluctance to voice this fact loud and clear in his tone.

"Fine. Nine months. But as soon as Masterson gets back, Malfoy goes back to the dungeons of the Ministry where he belongs."

"I believe it's called the Department of Mysteries Weasel, but I guess knowing that would be above your pay grade," Draco sneered.

Ginny closed her eyes, "Nine months." She repeated.

"Nine months," Harry sighed.

Draco just smirked.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

"Give me the case file." Ginny extended her hand.

"I'm not done looking at it Weasel, wait your turn."

"If you were having trouble with the words Malfoy, I can help sound them out for you," Ginny drawled, her voice laced with sarcasm.

The two were in the Ministry cafeteria having received their next assignment from Harry. Draco had snatched it out of his hands before Ginny even had time to blink and she had reluctantly followed him down here to chance a glance at it for herself.

"Patience Red, it's a virtue."

"I was never one for virtues."

"I bet you weren't."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Yes, what _is_ that supposed to mean?"

The pair looked up to see another mop of red hair, the same shade as Ginny's but significantly shorter, slide into the seat next to Ginny placing his tray in front of him and taking a large bite out of an apple as he sat.

"What is he doing here anyway?" Ron asked gesturing toward the blonde across from them as soon as he swallowed his bite of apple.

"I could ask you the same thing Weasley," Draco said without taking his eyes off the file.

"I work here," Ron supplied, obviously miffed that Draco wasn't aware of this fact. "Department of Magical Games and Sports."

Draco pointed at himself, eyes still glued on his parchement, "Unspeakable."

"_Ex_ Unspeakable," Ginny clarified smugly. "He was _demoted, _and appointed the newest pain in my ass."

Ron looked from Draco to Ginny and back again. "You mean _he's_ your new partner?" Ron guffawed once then promptly burst into fits of laughter.

"Wow, I'm sorry Gin, but wait till Harry hears about this!" Ron said, wiping stray tears from his face.

"He already knows. He's just been promoted. He's our new boss," Ginny said expressionlessly.

"Well hot damn! That's brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, eyes still shinning like a Christmas tree. "Well, I'm sorry about your uh, predicament though Gin, terrible luck isn't it?" He grinned cheekily, glancing at Draco.

"Yeah. You seem real torn up about it," Ginny dead panned.

Ron immediately went somber at this statement. "Speaking of torn up, how are you doing after the—"

Ron stopped mid sentence staring at his sister strangely. Ginny knew that Ron was about to mention the break up that was so tastefully splashed across the Daily Prophet and it was the last thing she wanted to discuss in front of her new partner. Draco still hadn't looked up from the case file that he was so studiously poring over and Ginny was currently gesturing wildly with her face, eyes darting from Ron to Draco and back again, tilting her head, and using her hands to make 'cut it out' gestures. Thankfully Ron got the hint and clamped his mouth shut.

Draco however seemed to be more perceptive than he let on.

"What are you two on about now?"

"Nothing," The two Weasleys said simultaneously.

Draco finally glanced up from his research to eye the two red heads shrewdly.

"What do you two take me for?" He asked, and then thought the better of it. "Never mind, don't answer that." He amended as Ron shut his mouth again quickly. "Oh and for your information Weaselette. I wasn't demoted. I chose to transfer over to the auror department."

"Why?" Ron asked before he could stop himself.

"Let's just say the circumstances were favorable to my cause," Draco said furtively.

"Well thanks for being so specific Malfoy, it would've been annoying if you were vague," Ginny spat, rolling her eyes.

"And what cause is that?" Ron continued his cross examination.

"Not _that_ cause, if that's what you're getting at," Draco glared at the elder of the two red heads, obviously annoyed. "I haven't supported that cause in a long time Weasley." And with that statement, he deftly rolled up his right shirt sleeve to reveal the creamy white, completely unblemished skin of his forearm.

Ron glanced at his arm in an uninterested manner and shrugged his shoulders, though Draco thought he detected a slight glimmer of respect in the youngest Weasley brother.

"But back to the subject manner at hand," Draco said, rolling his sleeve back down he turned to Ginny. "What is it that you don't want carrot top senior over here to reveal in front of me?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Ginny crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

"Yeah, and plus, don't you read The Prophet?" Ron blurted out.

Ginny wacked him across the back of his head.

"OW!" Ron exclaimed glaring at his youngest sibling, rubbing his head. "What the hell Gin?"

"Hermione is right. You are the most tactless person I have ever met," Ginny grumbled.

"I am not—wait, Hermione said that?" Ron stopped rubbing his head to stare at her.

"Read what in the Prophet?" Draco inquired, ignoring the sibling exchange.

"Ginny got dumped," Ron supplied readily. He was obviously eager to give out information to piss off Ginny for attacking him now.

"By that Seamus git? Wasn't he in our year in school?" Draco addressed Ron.

"Yeah, and now he's dumped Ginny for that tart Chastity Carmichael."

Draco's pale eyebrows shot into his hair. "Did you say Chastity Carmichael?"

"Yeah, you know her?" Ron looked dubious.

"You could say that. We dated recently." Draco's face was dark. It obviously had not ended well.

Ginny stared at her new partner incredulously, "You dated Chastity Carmichael?"

"That's what I just said isn't it?" Draco snapped.

"So let me get this straight," Ron said looking between the two co-workers. "Your ex's are dating _each other_ now?"

"Wait a minute," Ginny said, eyes going shrewd. "You don't think…"

"That bastard," Ginny breathed, coming to the same conclusion that Draco had at the same time he said, "That bitch."

"Ha, wow, what are the chances eh?" Ron said with a nervous chuckle, glancing at the murderous looks on the two aurors faces.

"Shut up," The two snapped at the same time and then looked at each other strangely.

"Oh Merlin, we're already starting to think alike," Ginny groaned.

"I highly doubt it, unless you're the homicidal type."

"No…" Ginny said, then happened to chance a glance down at the case file Draco had set down on the table. Her face split into a grin.

"I'm the _vengeful_ type."


	2. All Eyes On Me

**A/N:** Sorry it took so long to get this one out. Thank you guys so much for the positive feedback though! In this chapter, we get to delve into the inner workings of Mr. Draco Malfoy for a bit. Oh and bonus points for people who can figure out which songs are at the beginning of each chapter. Be warned. My musical taste is very sporadic and random. Much like myself. (This chapters is easy though.)

**Disclaimer:** Anything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Devious Chapter 2: All Eyes On Me**

_*** There's only two types of guys out there,  
Ones that can hang with me, and ones that are scared  
So baby I hope that you came prepared  
I run a tight ship, so beware  
I'm like a ring leader, I call the shots.  
I'm like a fire cracker,  
I make it hot when I put on a show._

_I feel the adrenaline moving through my veins  
Spotlight on me and I'm ready to break  
I'm like a performer, the dance floor is my stage._

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Five years. Five glorious years had gone by since Draco had finally escaped the hell hole known as Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry; five glorious years in which Draco Malfoy had spent the better part of trying to piss off his father. And what better way to piss off an "Ex" Death Eater then to become someone that helps develop ways to destroy them?

Draco had begun this new mission shortly after the fall. Harry Big Head Potter had finally found a way to destroy Voldemort and save the wizarding world as they knew it. Whoo. Big surprise. No one saw that coming right? Lucius, being the slippery bastard that he was, plead to being under the Imperius during Voldemorts rein and had escaped Azkaban. Again. This irritated Draco to no end. His idiotic asshole of a father, who shamelessly followed around a reject half blood, wannabe dictator who got his jollies off of torturing people who technically didn't know they existed (and for those slow folk out there we call these people _muggles_) and smiled at the thought of sacrificing virgins or some rot. Lucius's stupidity and helpless devotion to the Dark Lord had made Draco's adolescence hell. He had spent the better part of his Hogwarts days in a brainwashed state of thinking the meaning of life was to worship a not-quite-human entity that looked like a snake on legs and was obsessed with an 11 year old boy. That's not creepy at all.

After Voldemort fell, Draco was sure that his father's days of torturing, beating and raping were over. He was wrong. It got worse. Determined to avenge their fallen master, the Death Eaters had been relentless. They lashed out, lost and confused without anyone to lead them. Pawns stuck on a chest board with no King to protect. Most were too careless to escape capture. His father however, had not been one of them. In fact, it had been a growing suspicion in Draco's mind that his father was lined up to succeed the Dark Lord. The suspicion turned almost into certainty when the summer after his final year at Hogwarts his father tried to offer him up as a sacrifice for the immortality spell that Voldemort had used.

That was the day that Draco started to believe in lucky stars, for Narcissa, coming home early from one of her many shopping trips, had walked in on the ritual just in time to ruin the sacrificial ceremony with a high pitched scream about getting blood on the new Persian rugs. Thank Merlin for uptight rich witches. Lucius almost killed Narcissa in his f rage but she being a well trained Death Eaters wife escaped narrowly apparating away quickly and was now to Draco's knowledge in hiding somewhere in America called the Hamptons. They became each others Secret Keepers and Draco remained in merry old London right under his father's nose while his mother enjoyed the single life in the sunny American Hamptons. He rarely hears from her. Needless to say, the experience was somewhat of a wake up call for the young Malfoy and caused him to be just a teensy bit ticked off at his, what he now affectionately called, 'sperm donor.' Draco had kept a low profile since then.

Now that Draco was set on a new career path, (one that didn't involve the sacrificing of, well _him_) he soon discovered that becoming an Unspeakable was no easy feat. Even for someone with as high social standing and connections in the ministry such as the Malfoy name had. Contrary to popular belief thanks to the insufferable glory hound Harry Potter, Draco had a great many talents. He was skilled in charms, potions, transfiguration and interestingly enough, had an excellent enough memory to tolerate history of magic. He had only been outshone in his marks by a certain Miss Hermione Granger. (Much to his chagrin.) Unlike most of his endeavors Draco had actually been accepted into the program based purely on merit. Harry and Ron would most definitely have a stroke if they knew.

But being an Unspeakable was growing tiresome for Draco. It required lots of thinking, scheming, more thinking, experimenting, explosions, and absolutely no action what so ever. Oh and the most important part: His father had no idea where he was or what he was doing. Draco knew that he had gotten away with his lifestyle solely based on the fact that his father had figured out they were in hiding was currently occupied trying to find the too people that were Secret Keepers for each other. Not to mention he was too busy trying to achieve world domination at the same time. Again. Evil-doers were _so_ unoriginal.

So now it was time for Draco to take some action of his own. He had given his father a chance to come find him and now he was tired of waiting. The 'Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are' game was growing tiresome. Draco needed to get into the field. Do some hands on work besides the explosions and the experiments. He was more of a walk the walk type guy anyway. Except in school, that didn't count. He had contacted his supervisor already and begun training in field work almost immediately. With so many of Voldemorts followers still on the loose and most of them still at large, having an Unspeakable on their side would be pivotal for the auror department. He finished the training in just two short weeks. He would have set some kind of record… if Harry Potter hadn't already done it 5 years prior. Draco seethed inwardly about that one for days before he was officially transferred. Some things never change.

And this is where we find our blonde haired rebel-with-a-cause (for once) sitting across from a very formidable looking red head wearing a messy ponytail, slightly baggy jeans, an old Weird Sisters T-shirt under a wrinkled standard issue blue auror uniform that was left open and a mad glint in her eye.

Draco cocked an eyebrow at her. "What are you getting at Weasley?"

Instead of answering his question, Ginny turned to Ron. "Ronald, will you excuse me and my new _partner_ for a moment?"

Ron glanced between the puzzled look on Draco's face to the determined one on Ginny's and seemed to make a split second decision. "Don't get fired," He said before standing up with his tray and leaving, but not without giving his little sister a cautionary glare.

"Have you seen this?" Ginny asked, eyes shinning brightly as Ron exited the cafeteria.

"Only for the last twenty minutes Weasley, get on with it."

"The ministry is throwing a congratulatory party for Shacklebolt's retirement and Harry's new promotion next week. We're assigned for security," Ginny grinned now.

"And?" Draco prompted.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "All the who's who of the wizarding world will be there including a certain blonde headed bimbo and dirty cheating, Quidditch player scum…"

"I am _not_ a bimbo and I don't think Potter would appreciate you calling him scum Weasley," Draco smirked at the look of annoyance that crossed Ginny's face.

"Shut up Malfoy, you know what I mean. But you're right; you strike me as more of a bastard than a bimbo."

"Bitch."

"I take that as a compliment. So are you in?"

Draco cocked a silver brow. "In on what?"

"Haven't you been listening?"

"No not really, no," Draco lied, checking out is fingernails uninterestedly, just to piss her off.

"You are such a dick."

"I take that as a compliment." He smiled glowingly at her.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Draco got up from the table ten minutes later with an almost new found respect for Ginny. The girl may not be very classy but she had cunning. Draco found himself thinking she would have done well in Slytherin. Okay not _well_ but she could have held her own in any case. No one was better at being Slytherin than him. Except for the whole becoming an auror thing. That didn't count.

Once Draco had left Ginny in the cafeteria pondering her 'plan,' he headed up to the Atrium to floo home and change. He needed to go into Diagon Alley to pick up dress robes because he had just been informed the party would be black tie. Draco hadn't attended a black tie event since the Yule Ball his fourth year. Oh and the sacrificial ceremony that his father had prepared for his immortality. But once again, he didn't think that one counted. He reached the Atrium at last, walking up to the nearest floo grate and setting his wand on the small table that stood next to it. The table vibrated once and his wand glowed green. A slip of parchment _poofed_ it's way into existence reading:

_Wand Make: Hawthorn and unicorn hair, 10 inches. _

_Registered To: Draco Cassius Blake Malfoy. _

_Title: Auror. _

_Status: Cleared. _

The word 'cleared' glowed green once and the parchment _poofed_ again, disappearing while Draco pocketed his wand and grabbed a fist full of the shimmering powder. He tossed the sparkling dust into the fire and a moment later he stepped in shouting clearly, "Diagon Alley!" tucking his elbows in, and squeezing his eyes firmly shut.

Draco hated traveling by floo powder. He had ever since he was a boy. The trip always gave him vertigo and soiled his clothing. Plus, it messed up his hair. Apparating was the faster, simpler and more convenient way of travel in his opinion but since the 'Death Eater Rebellion' as the Ministry now called it there had been a definite peak in security measures to prevent a breach. Although, Draco reasoned that anyone working at the Ministry could be a spy for the Death Eaters. As long as they were a registered employee they could still infiltrate just as easily as the next person thus, making the security effort futile, Draco kept this opinion to himself.

When his feet had landed firmly on the ground in the correct grate, Draco stepped out gracefully as ever despite the fact that the room in front of him was still spinning. He cast a well practiced _Scourgify _before heading out of the shop and into the street.

The on advantage of coming to Diagon Alley on a week day in the middle of work hours was that it decreased the hustle and bustle of the crowds, and the chances of meeting someone you know there, which were both perfectly fine with Draco. Making his way over to Madam Malkins, the thought that he could actually make a shopping trip without the worry of bumping into an old school mate and making awkward pleasantries put a slight spring in his step. He hadn't taken three steps however when he spotted a familiar head of bushy brown hair piled on top of a face that was currently scowling at him in a horribly familiar stern Gryffindorish way.

"Oh bollocks," Draco's spring faltered as he spotted Hermione Granger coming towards him, exiting the—surprise, surprise—book store.

"Wrong choice of words for someone who doesn't have any," Hermione greeted.

"Real mature Granger. I see you haven't changed much," Draco replied looking pointedly at the bag of books over her shoulder.

"I see you haven't either judging by the size of your still enormous head," Hermione smiled winningly at him.

Draco smirked. "That depends on which 'head' you're talking about."

Hermione blanched. "You're sick."

"You like it," Draco countered easily.

"Ugh," Hermione shuddered. "What are you doing here anyway? I heard you were just transferred to the auror department and were supposed to be going over your cases with Ginny."

"Merlin's fucking pants, word travels fast around here…" Draco muttered.

Hermione was still looking at him expectantly so he sighed. "Not that it's any of your business Granger, but I need dress robes for Hero Boy's party next week. Weasley and I are running security."

"Oh really?" Hermione said, smile curling at her lips. "Well aren't you a lucky one?"

"Sod off," Draco snapped. "What are you doing with your life then? Still trying to become the worlds biggest book worm? Because I have news for you Granger, no one is fighting you for the title."

"For you're information Malfoy, I'm in journalism now, working at Rita Skeeters right hand aiding the spread of horrible gossip and mayhem in the wizarding press," Hermione announced.

"Are you serious?" Draco said, clearly baffled at her proclamation.

"No idiot. Merlin, you're thick, I'm an Obliviator at the Ministry. I thought even a moron like you would know that. Our departments work together all the time."

"Yes, because the Department of Mysteries needs Obliviators on a regular basis…" Draco's voice dripped with contempt.

"I was talking about your _current_ department smartass," Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"I'm sorry that I don't keep tabs on the friends of my previous nemesis from school. It must've not made it on my 'Things To Accomplish In Life' list. I'll get right on that," Draco said insincerely. "But as much as I would love to sit here and catch up with you all day Granger, I'd rather be trampled by a horde or rampaging Hippogriffs so, I'll just be on my way now." And he neatly sidestepped the brunette, walking briskly the other way before she could respond.

"Well it was nice seeing you too ferret face!" Hermione called before stalking off herself.

"God I hate Gryffindors," Draco grumbled before stepping into the shop.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Draco was standing in front of the mirror staring at his reflection. He couldn't quite decide if he liked what he saw. His new dress robes fit him like a dream and were cut to perfection thanks to the magical workings of Madam Malkin herself, he smelled fantastic as usual, his shoes were shiny and his posture would put Dumbledore's high backed chair to shame, but he couldn't do a damn thing about his hair. He'd tried slicking it back like he did in school but that made him look fifteen again so he'd mussed it all up, trying the bed head look. He rejected that idea quickly, realizing that it was too similar to a very famous raven haired super hero that happened to be the cause of his distress. If Harry Bleeding Potter as Draco had affectionately dubbed him, hadn't been promoted- or better yet- born, he wouldn't be in this predicament. After ten more minutes of messing with his hair, Draco finally decided to give up on it, simply running his fingers through the feathery locks and letting them fall as they may.

Who was he trying to look good for anyway? Ginny Weasley? Draco had to scoff at that thought. Thinking about Ginny Weasley usually gave him a migraine so he usually tried to suppress those thoughts. Getting ready for the party had been a nightmare all in it's own without thinking about the unfortunate circumstance that involved taking her as his 'date.' Draco cringed at the thought when he remembered her attire the last time he had seen her. Hopefully she would ditch the ratty Weird Sisters T-shirt tonight.

Draco glanced at the clock. It read, 6:55. The party was to start at 7 pm sharp and Draco and a couple of other aurors in his department had already been to the ministry banquet hall where the event was to take place earlier that day to secure any last minute wards and double check the existing ones. Ginny had not been able to make it to the pre-sweep security because she claimed she was too busy preparing for the party. Draco didn't mind. If he was going to be spending the whole evening with her, a reprieve from his fiery tempered new partner, even if it was just a few hours, was very welcome in his opinion. They had agreed to meet at the party so Draco stepped up to his fireplace, cursing this means of travel as he always did and flooed to the ministry.

Stepping out of the grate while brushing off his robes and scourgifying himself once again Draco quickly walked over to the lifts and punched the second to last level in. The banquet hall was just a floor above his old department and Draco felt a strange tingle as the lift started to move. The tingle soon traveled from his toes up to his chest and resided there for the rest of the ride. It still had not subsided when the lift doors opened and he walked down the long corridor to the giant oak double doors that led to the hall. Once inside, the tingling in his chest intensified. The hall was packed. Every important witch or wizard worth talking about seemed to be there. It was then that Draco identified the peculiar sensation to nervousness. He was _nervous. _

"Oh balls," Draco muttered under his breath, quickly grabbing a flute of what was hopefully something alcoholic from the waiter that whisked by. He downed the contents quickly, placing it on the tray of a different waiter's tray, grabbing another one before they rushed off.

While Draco busied himself with his second flute of champagne, he took the chance to glance around the room. The banquet hall itself could've fit the entire Great Hall of Hogwarts in it comfortably. In the middle of the room suspended magically in mid air was a magnificent chandelier that looked about as old as Hogwarts itself. The entire room was dimly lit with torches that hung on the wall, connected by real live fairy's dancing across a delicate string of sparkling gold chains. His eyes quickly landed on a few of his colleagues and nodded at them in greeting. One of them spotted the champagne in his hand, shooting him a warning look and Draco quickly put the glass down behind him. Drinking on the job was usually frowned on he supposed. Draco watched as the auror moved on and as soon as his back was turned he snatched the flute back up in his hands and downed it in one gulp.

It was on his third glass of champagne that he heard the oak doors open again and when he turned to see who it was, almost choked on his last gulp. It was Ginny. At least he _thought_ it was Ginny. She was dressed in a shimmery golden number that was strapless and tight through the bodice and flared out slightly at the calves, brushing the floor in soft folds. Her hair was piled in voluminous ringlets atop her head with a few tendrils framing her face and she held a matching gold clutch. But besides her outward appearance, Draco was baffled by how she entered the hall. Ginny held herself differently. She walked into the banquet hall with all the grace and poise of Narcissa Malfoy herself and Draco couldn't help but stare at this woman that he had thought was incapable of any mystery.

Draco was still staring when Ginny spotted him and he didn't snap out of it until she was standing directly in front of him.

"Well don't you clean up nice," Ginny said, smiling brightly at him.

Draco glared at her suspiciously, "Was that a compliment Weasley?"

"If I say yes, will you behave?" Ginny asked.

"Define, behave." Draco said.

"Shut up. Now are you ready to do this?" Ginny muttered, dropping all pretense of being nice.

"Whatever Weasel, this was your idea," Draco murmured, then plastered a fake grin on his face as Cornelius Fudge drew near.

Ginny suddenly grabbed a hold of Draco's arm and steered him towards the dance floor.

"What are you doing? That was Fudge coming over," Draco protested.

"Shut up. They're here." Ginny whispered fiercely, nodding her head in the direction of the doors.

Draco, who was about to protest at being told to 'shut up' twice in a matter of 60 seconds, turned to the direction Ginny indicated instead and sure enough, immediately spotted the head of golden blonde hair attached to a magically modified face, swathed in a skimpy red floor length dress and clinging to the arm of a ruggedly handsome brunette with gleaming white teeth. Draco felt his blood boil. That stupid tramp really was seeing that Finnegan wanker. The beautiful couple bad barely made it into the confines of the building when they were bombarded by party goers eager to greet the happy new couple, making their first public appearance together.

"Dance Weasel?" Draco said turning away from the couple across the room.

"You sure have a way with words Malfoy," Ginny rolled her eyes but took his offered arm anyway.

Draco twirled her onto the dance floor, his mind still on the couple that had just walked in. "We're putting on this show for _them_ aren't we? As long as it looks good from where they're standing, it doesn't matter how we achieve it."

Ginny just rolled her eyes and didn't bother with a response.

"You look thoroughly distracted," Ginny observed a few minutes later as Draco dipped her effortlessly, a far off look on his delicate features.

"You would be too if your ex just walked in on the arm of some pretty, bimbo super star wannabe," He replied.

Ginny cocked a ginger brow, "I thought he just had."

Draco had to smile at that one.

"Have they spotted us yet?" Ginny whispered as Draco twirled her again.

Draco scanned the room, his eyes landing on his target almost instantly. She wasn't hard to miss. Chastity was still clinging onto the arm of Seamus Finnegan like a life source while he chatted animatedly with Cornelius Fudge and was currently staring daggers in their direction. If looks could kill Draco would've been disintegrated into nothing but a pile of ashes already. Fudge finally walked away and he saw her very pointedly nudge her date with her elbow, motioning with her head in their direction. The animated look on the young Quidditch star's face quickly turned sour upon realizing who she was indicating. Draco watched Seamus's face turned a shade of puce that would make Harry's Uncle Vernon proud, as the couple made their way through the throng towards them at a rapid pace.

"Yup. They've definitely seen us," Draco quipped.

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked.

Draco pulled her in close to whisper in her ear, "Yes."

His lips had brushed her ear ever so gently and Ginny suppressed an involuntary shudder at the contact. She looked up. Seamus and Chastity were halfway across the room now.

"Just an FYI Weasley," Draco's left hand lowered itself from Ginny's waist to her hip, coming dangerously close to resting on her behind and Ginny tried not to squirm. "Don't over analyze anything I do tonight." Before Ginny had a chance to inquire just what the hell he was talking about, Draco suddenly tilted her back in a low dip, letting his face come forward with her neck line, letting the tip of his nose graze ever so slightly down the length of her neck all the way down to her cleavage before standing her upright again. When she was righted once more the song reached its ending crescendo and he did one quick twirl, pulling her toward him as the song began its last stanza.

As the last note was about to be played, Ginny shifted her body slightly so she halted with her right knee pressed up between his legs as her body stopped, flush against Draco's and her knee came up to press up into his groin ever so slightly.

Draco's eyes widened as Ginny leaned in to whisper in his ear this time, "I wouldn't have it any other way." She could see from her peripheral vision that Seamus and Chastity were almost upon them. "Oh and the same goes for you Malfoy. Don't forget, _I'm_ running this show," Ginny murmured before she leaned in caressing Draco's lips with her own in one quick seductive kiss. When Ginny opened her eyes again, Draco was gazing at her in wonder. Ginny's lip turned up at the corner. "You might want to wipe that lipstick off before someone notices."

One of Draco's silver brows arched as he stared passed Ginny's shoulder. "Oh I think they've noticed."

Ginny waited until another waiter with a tray of champagne came by and snagged a glass, twirling around just in time to see Seamus halt in the middle of the dance floor, his date almost colliding with his back with his sudden cease in movement. Ginny took a delicate sip of her drink, gazing at her ex-boyfriend over the rim of her flute and winked mockingly at him. Seamus's face turned a lovely shade of blotchy burgundy this time and Chastity's perfectly arched brows were knit together behind him in apparent annoyance. But before the lovely couple could get any closer, Draco tugged gently on Ginny's hand, leading her away from the dance floor, one arm 'protectively' around her waist.

"What, not one for confrontation Malfoy?" Ginny said casually once they were out of earshot as if their exchange had never happened. She took another sip of her champagne.

"No. It just stings more this way."

"For you or for her?"

Draco gave her a strange look before pointing at himself, "Heartless bastard, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Ginny said expressionlessly. "Now can you get your grimy paws off my ass please?"

Draco released her at once. "Like I'm just thrilled to be touching you Weasley; I'm going to need a three hour bath after this."

"Careful Malfoy, I know where you work now," Ginny said through a false smile as she scanned the room. "How are the wards holding up?"

Draco dug through his pockets and pulled out a dark grey octagon shaped stone with the ministry insignia on it and tapped it once with his wand. The insignia glowed purpled for a few seconds then died. "They're fine." He replied, returning the stone to his pocket. The stone was a talisman directly connected to the safety ward around the building. If any of the wards were broken, the talisman would glow yellow and start to vibrate. If someone not on the magical guest list were to enter it would glow red. If both of the above happened or the said person had ill intentions it would turn black.

"Speaking of security, where's your talisman?" Draco asked looking Ginny up and down pointedly.

Ginny gave him a meaningful look and replied, "Do you really want to know?"

Draco gave her rather tight attire another once over and made his decision quickly, "Nope."

"That's what I thought. Oh look its Hermione and Ron."

Draco took an extra step away from Ginny as the two former Gryffindors approached.

"Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed, "You look fantastic!"

"Thanks so you do," Ginny grinned at her friend. "As do you Ronald," Ginny nodded at her brother who looked dashing in deep charcoal dress robes. "Sure beats that monstrosity you wore to the Yule ball."

"You're hilarious Gin, but keep your day job," Ron retorted. "Speaking of monstrosity, have you seen Tweedle Dim and Tweedle Ditz over there?" He nodded to where Seamus and Chastity seemed to be arguing on the other side of the room.

Seamus was gesturing wildly with his hands and Chastity had both hands planted firmly on her hips, one occasionally coming up to gesture in their direction, speaking to him in what appeared to be very heated tones.

Ginny's eyes sparkled mischievously as she replied, "Oh, they're here are they?" An empty tray floated by her ear and she placed her now empty champagne flute onto it.

Hermione didn't miss the impish glint in her friend's eye and stared at Ginny shrewdly. "Ginny, what did you do?"

"Oh you know, just some of this," Draco suddenly came up behind Ginny, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back against his chest and kissed her softly on the curve of her neck where it met her shoulder blade.

Ron choked. Hermione stared.

"Were they looking?" Ginny whispered, tilting her head slightly to address Draco, who was now nuzzling her neck.

"You think I'm doing this for enjoyment Weasley?" Draco murmured, purposely letting his lips travel over the nape of her neck as spoke.

"What are you two doing?!" Ron exclaimed, regaining his power of speech. "What if someone _sees_ you? I mean the rumors that would get started…"

"Ronald, I've hardly been one to listen to office gossip and if you've forgotten, I used to date Harry Potter, who I've yet to see by the way and this is his party. The rumor mill is hardly something to get my knickers in a twist about."

Ron just stared at his baby sister disapprovingly. Hermione didn't seem to know what to say.

"Would you quit doing that?" Ron finally snapped at Draco.

"You should see their faces, every time I do it though. Priceless." Draco smirked but pulled away nonetheless. "Plus, I think Weasley here is kind of enjoying it."

Ginny had the good grace to snort. "Please Malfoy, the only thing keeping me from projectile vomiting is that wonderful shade of violet that Seamus keeps turning when he sees us. Nothing on that Chastity bint though. I think her hair is literally starting to curl on the ends."

"Mission accomplished?" Draco asked stepping away from her fully.

Ron's posture relaxed immediately.

"Not quite. We haven't done the finally yet," Ginny sneered wickedly and Draco had to give her props. She did the evil grin quite well. Well for a Gryff anyway.

"I am _not_ staging getting caught with my pants around my ankles in some secluded hallway by my ex Weasley. Have a little class. This isn't Hogwarts anymore."

Ginny's eybrows flew up. Ron choked again.

"You got caught in a hallway with your pants around your ankles while we were at Hogwarts?" Hermione blurted out.

Draco grinned, "Two words: Astoria Greengrass. Probably the best oral I've ever gotten."

"Oh my god! That was _you?_" Ginny's eyes went wide, and then she blushed furiously. "I mean, Daphne told me her sister got detention for a week for something that was kept confidential from all but who were involved. She wouldn't tell me what for. There were rumors flying all over school and when McGonagall finally got sick of the whispering she made and announcement in the common room. But all she said was it involved 'inappropriate sexual behavior' or some rot like that and that the two students were adequately punished."

"It was worth every hour of detention served too," Draco said reminiscently.

Hermione cringed, "Ugh. Pig."

Draco turned to Hermione and said quite seriously, "Don't knock it till you've tried it Granger."

"Ugh, I work with Astoria sometimes when I volunteer at the library, I'll never be able to look her in the face again," Hermione rolled her eyes skyward.

"You? She's my best friend's sister! How do you think I feel?" Ginny complained sourly and gave a shudder. "Oh my, bad pictures. Bad pictures in my brain. Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts…" She massaged her temples furiously for a moment then turned to Draco.

"Nevermind. Forget the 'finally.' I just want this image out of my head before I have any lasting nightmares. I need more booze, what kind of party is this?" Ginny stalked away to find another waiter while Draco muttered, "Drama queen," under his breathe and followed after her.

While weaving his way through the crowd following the shining red crown of curls like a beacon, he failed to notice the great many people he was by passing. It was too bad that they didn't fail to notice him. He was stopped on several occasions by people congratulating and interrogating him about his auror position and some even had the audacity to poke fun at the fact that his first job was to help protect this party of his former nemesis. Draco tried to quickly but politely end those conversations, (upper crust up bringing never seemed to fade) so he could continue to track down his partner.

When he finally escaped the gaggle of 'well wishers' he had lost sight of her.

"Damn," Draco swore under his breath, grabbing another passing champagne flute and downing it again. He was starting to get a thoroughly good buzz going if he kept that up.

A few yards away he spotted Daphne Greengrass. He didn't know she'd be at the party. Ginny hadn't mentioned it. But then again, his relationship with Ginny, if you could even call it that, did not entail talking about their personal lives. And Daphne was definitely part of Ginny's personal life.

"Daphne," Draco walked up to her quickly. "Have you seen Weasley?"

"I've seen a lot of Weasley's Draco, this is Harry Potter's party. You need to be more specific," Daphne said, crossing her arms and giving him a condescending look.

"The female one," Draco clarified impatiently.

"I know who you meant, I was just trying to piss you off," Daphne grinned. "She went that way." She jabbed her thumb in the direction of the oak doors and Draco stomped away without thanking her.

As soon as Draco pushed open the oak doors and exited the banquet hall, his sensory nerves went on alert. The hallway was almost pitch black, the torches lining the walls all blown out. It was a lot quieter outside of the party atmosphere as well and it was easier for him to shake the champagne in his system and focus. He squinted into the darkness and listened for any signs that Ginny might be out here.

"Weasley?" He called out, pulling out his wand muttering a quick, "_Lumos._"

Silence. Draco frowned. Maybe Daphne had been messing with him again. This thought sent an irritated chill up Draco's spine and just as he was about to head back into the hall to give his former housemate a piece of his mind, his pocket vibrated. Draco pulled out the talisman and held it under his wand light. It was black.

**A/N 2: ** So this one was a bit longer because of the wait. But since I left a mini cliffy I'll try to get the next one out faster!


	3. In Too Deep

**A/N:** Right. So I know I've been out of commission for a while, but life has been freakishly cruel to me lately when it comes to having time to write fanfiction. I've had the first part of this chapter written for a while now so I thought: who needs sleep? Okay okay I'm shutting up…

**Disclaimer:** Anything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Devious Chapter 3: In Too Deep **

_***Cause I'm in too deep, and I'm trying to keep,  
Up above in my head, instead of going under.  
_

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Draco let the fact that there was a major security breach sink in before he took off at a sprint down the hallway. He had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what was going on. He was almost to the end of the hallway when he heard voices and scuffling. As he drew nearer he heard a low whimper and concluded that it sounded decidedly female. Rounding the corner he pointed his wand and came across Ginny and Seamus just as he had predicted but the scene before him was not what he was expecting.

Seamus was lying on the ground clutching his neither regions, with a bloody nose and black eye, his wand lying a few feet away. Ginny was standing over him, her dress torn up the side and a yellowish bruise starting to appear on her upper left cheek, panting as if she had just run a marathon. Her wand was not drawn.

"Weasley? Are you okay?" Draco asked, stepping closer.

"Just peachy," Ginny panted, glaring at the man lying on the floor.

Draco examined her face more closely and a dark scowl overcame his face. "Did he _hit_ you?"

"It's nothing. I took care of it," Ginny said gruffly, pushing passed her partner and into the main hallway once more.

Draco grabbed her arm and spun her around before she could get any further. "Weasley, this is _not _nothing, he assaulted you, an auror but more than that, a woman. He could get up to 5 years in Azkaban with the right judge."

Ginny yanked her arm out of his grasp. "I said I'm fine Malfoy, thanks so much for your concern but I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself." She glanced back at the still prone figure of her ex boyfriend. "And he may be a cheating violent asshole but he doesn't deserve Azkaban." With a final hateful glare Ginny stalked off, muttering something about the powder room and freshening up.

Draco just stood there for a moment staring after his partner. Despite Ginny's ability to stave off her attacker and the fact that she had come out of it relatively unharmed, Draco was seething. There were very few things in the world that Draco had detested and thought below him and putting your hands on a woman was one of them. He had watched his mother be pushed around and forced into submission by his father his whole life and seeing Ginny, someone who was much stronger is spirit and endurance than his mother bruised up by some low life cheating scumbag like Seamus Finnegan, set something off in him.

Instead of racing after Ginny, (he seemed to have to do that a lot lately) he turned around and walked back into the secluded hallway where Seamus Finnegan was still lying, helpless and wand less on the ground…

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Ginny was sipping her morning coffee at her desk the next day when she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in," She called, putting down her latest case file.

The door opened to reveal her new boss and Ginny smiled at him. "Hey Harry, am I still allowed to call you Harry?" She joked.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Stop that. It's embarrassing enough as it is that people I used to go have drinks with keep calling me 'boss.' I don't need it from you too."

Ginny laughed. "Alright then. So to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Actually the first thing is business," Harry's tone went serious. "Weren't you dating Seamus Finnegan not too long ago?"

Ginny's face darkened, "I thought you said this was business?"

"You remember that glitch in the security system last night? The one you told me was just a false alarm?" Harry went on.

"Yes…" Ginny started to get uneasy.

"Well shortly after that Seamus Finnegan was found in a deserted hallway by the banquet hall and he looked pretty bloodied up."

"Look Harry, it really wasn't—" Ginny started to say.

"But the funny thing is," Harry continued before she could finish. "He couldn't remember a damn thing about how he got there or what had happened. He was beaten pretty bad Ginny. I mean how do you not remember how you broke three ribs? We have a team investigating it but I thought I'd let you know."

Ginny's brows fused together in confusion. She really did not recall breaking any of Seamus's ribs that night. In fact, all she could recall was punching him in the nose and elbowing him in the face after he had grabbed her and slapped her. She hadn't even had to do any bodily damage before he dropped to the floor a few moments after that. The fall itself was not enough to break any bones either. And even if it had, that should not have tampered with his memory.

"His face was a right mess too thinking about it. It's too bad. I hear the publishers of Quidditch Through The Ages wanted to do a special segment on him and feature him in their new magazine." Harry stood up. "Let me know if you need anything okay Gin? I know you were quite fond of each other and he was my roommate for four years. I feel like I owe it to him to find out who did this."

Ginny stared at Harry quizzically for a moment. "You really don't read the papers do you Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "When your name has been slandered and splashed publicly all over something for the better part of your life you wouldn't want to pick up and read the source of it everyday either.

"Right." Ginny nodded.

"Why do you ask?" Harry inquired.

"No reason. Thanks for the update Harry. It was a great party." Ginny tried to smile in what she hoped was a grateful manner.

"Yeah it was, sorry I didn't get to see you much, Hermione said you left early."

"Too much champagne too early in the evening," Ginny winked. "Boss would've been on me if I was late for work."

Harry laughed, "Oh yeah, having too much fun at my own party would've constituted a write up for sure."

Ginny grinned. "You never know. Now get back to work, _Detective_."

Harry groaned at the reference but exited her office without comment. As soon as the door was shut the tight smile that Ginny had plastered on her face for Harry dropped off as she yanked open one of her drawers pulling out a parchment and paper. She scrawled a quick note, tapped the parchment with her wand and watched it fold itself into the shape of a plane and fly towards the door. Ginny opened the door to her office to let the note zoom out then walked back to her desk.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Draco was sitting at his desk frowning at the report he had to fill out for the security on Harry's party the night before. Draco hated filling out reports. It was the thing he detested most about being an Unspeakable. All he did was take notes. Lots and lots of notes. It was worse than Binns' class up at Hogwarts. Luckily nothing had really happened last night… that he wanted to share with anyone. He was just scribbling the last bits of information on the parchment when something tapped on the small window pane of his office door. Draco flicked his wand lazily at it and watched as the door opened a crack letting the insistent purple airplane zoom into his hands. He unfolded it.

_Malfoy- _

_Meet me in my office. We need to talk. Now. _

_G. _

Draco grimaced at the parchment. He really was not in the mood to deal with Ginny's female empowerment moment. He hastily scribbled a note back on the other side of the parchment, tapping it with his wand and sending it on his way. Not thirty seconds later Draco heard the distinct sound of stomping footsteps and a moment later, a very irritable looking Ginny Weasley was standing at his door. She was holding the purple parchment in her hand and with her free one she reached up and slammed the door behind her, casting a quick silencing charm on the room.

"What are you twelve?" Ginny demanded, throwing the parchment down on his desk.

Draco smirked as he looked down. It was facing the side Draco had written on. It read:

_If you need to talk to me so bad, why don't _you_ come to _my_ office?_

He hadn't really expected her to march over here so quickly. Draco was just trying to grate on her nerves a little. He glanced up at Ginny who was still glaring. Yup, it was working.

"Good morning to you too Weasley, have a seat." Draco indicated the wooden chair in front of his desk.

"I'd rather stand thanks," Ginny declined.

Draco quirked a brow, "Now who's acting twelve?"

"Fine," Ginny snapped before throwing herself into the chair. "I need to talk to you."

"I gather," Draco replied calmly.

"What did you do to Seamus after I left?"

Draco opened his mouth to speak.

"And don't," Ginny cut him off before he could answer right way. "Say nothing because I know it was you Malfoy. You're the only other person that knows what happened that night."

Draco shot her an annoyed look. "What I was _going_ to say Weasley, before you so rudely interrupted." Ginny harrumphed. Draco ignored her and continued, "Was, nothing he didn't deserve."

Ginny gaped at him.

"What?" Was all that came out of Ginny's mouth in utter disbelief.

"I thought I spoke pretty clearly Weasley," Draco retorted, his eyes sparking with a flash of annoyance now.

"I heard what you said; I just wasn't… expecting it." Ginny admitted quietly, deflating slightly.

"Why?" She asked finally, looking up at him. And the look of pure innocent curiosity that had blossomed on Ginny's face then caught Draco momentarily off guard.

He regarded her for a moment. Then, "Because bastards who hit females are lower than dirt to me. Lower than a house elf even." He mentally flinched as an image of Hermione Granger unwillingly popped into his head at the mention of house elves.

Ginny however flinched outwardly at the degrading reference to the obedient race. "Malfoy…" She warned.

"My father used to hit my mother," He blurted out before he could stop himself. Ginny's eyes went wide at the exact same time Draco's did. Neither one of them was expecting that. Draco's eyes slid from Ginny's face to left of her shoulder and she glanced behind her just in time to see the occupants of the department whip their heads around quickly, doing a poor job of pretending they weren't peeking into the small window.

Ginny grabbed the cord for the blinds and abruptly yanked them shut, turning back to Draco. "Nosy little wankers."

Draco's mouth twitched slightly but his face remained impassive.

"So…" Ginny began awkwardly. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Draco snorted derisively. "It's been five years since I've left school Weasley. I'm a twenty-two year old fully trained auror, not some angst ridden teenager that listens to angry rock and talks about his feelings."

"Well maybe it's about time you did," Ginny snapped at him. "Talk about your feelings I mean, not the listening to angry rock part," She amended quickly seeing the look on Draco's face. "Then maybe you wouldn't be such a prick all the time."

"If this is supposed to be a therapy session, then you are the worst therapist I've ever seen," Draco retorted.

Ginny seemed to battle internally for a moment about something and Draco didn't have to inquire what about when a moment later she rolled her eyes dramatically. "What do you want me to say then Malfoy? Should I pull out the little doll for you? Where did the bad man touch you Draco?" Ginny said in exaggerated tones as if speaking to a five year old.

Draco's felt his cheeks turn pink and Ginny blanched. "Oh my god you're father didn't _actually_ touch you did he?" She asked suddenly horrified.

Draco blinked, his face returning to its normal color. "What? No! That's sick Weasley. He may have been a Death Eater but he wasn't demented…" Then Draco realized what he was saying and quickly amended, "Well he was but not like that."

"And hitting your wife isn't?" She said quietly.

Draco ran a hand over his face. "Listen Weasley I don't want to talk about it okay? Especially not with you, you wouldn't understand anyway."

Now it was Ginny's turn to turn red. "And why is that Malfoy? What, just because I was raised in a house full of boys who treated me like a 'princess' and sheltered me from all the big bads things in the world, that I don't know anything about things like domestic violence and abuse?"

Ginny's sudden outburst had rendered Draco speechless. He was gazing at her fixedly for once at a lost for words. After a moment Ginny seemed to calm down. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "When I was at Hogwarts, one of the girls in my dorm had an abusive father. He was an alcoholic and her mom is a muggle. He would come home from going to the bar after work and put all kinds of horrible hexes on her for the stupidest reasons. A picture frame on the wall was crooked. She missed a spot dusting. He didn't like the shirt she was wearing. On the days that she could, my friend would take her father's wand and hide it so he couldn't hex her mother anymore. But she soon realized that without his wand he was worse. He started to beat her when he couldn't find her wand, blaming her for misplacing it. I would watch my friend sob in the dorm every time she came home from holiday after seeing the fresh bruises that her mother was unable to cover up. If she thought her mother could defend herself properly she wouldn't have gone home at all. She was too terrified of her father to stand up to him but she wanted to be there at least to take care of her mother when she was hurt."

"Why didn't she ever turn him in?" Draco asked, careful to keep his voice neutral.

"Because," Ginny said with a sort of twisted bitter half smile. "Once her father realized that my friend knew what was going on, he'd heal her mother of all her cuts and bruises and obliviate her for good measure. She never defied him for fear that he'd turn on her someday. So don't write me off like I'm some innocent little girl and don't understand the ways of the world Malfoy. You'd be shocked to hear some of the things I've seen."

And with that Ginny stood up and exited the office. Once the door was shut firmly behind her, Ginny leaned against it closing her eyes. She hadn't meant to tell him that story. It just spilled out of her before she could stop it. He had looked shocked when she left.

"_Good,_" She thought, _"At least now he won't talk to me like I'm a child." _

Ginny took a deep breathe and opened her eyes… and met the eyes of almost everyone in the department.

"What are you looking at?" Ginny snapped, "Get back to work."

There was a sudden flurry of activity as the people sitting at their desk shuffled papers needlessly trying to feign busywork and passerby pretending they remembered something very important and running off. Ginny shook her head and stomped off to her office, deliberately slamming the door shut behind her. She didn't emerge for the rest of the day.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

"You ready to go Gin?" Daphne poked her head into Ginny's office. Ginny looked up from her paperwork. Her tone had been casual but there was something in her eyes that told her something was up.

"Yeah, just about," Ginny replied, resolving to interrogate her friend as soon as they got home.

They say that eyes are the windows to your soul. But in Daphne Greengrass's case, her eyes were the window to _gossip._ She always got that peculiar little twinkle in her eye when she knew something particularly juicy. It was very similar to the look Dumbledore used to get when he was hiding something. Actually when Ginny thought about it, a lot of the staff seemed to have a certain sparkle behind their spectacles when they knew something that you didn't know that they knew. So much so that Ginny wondered whether Dumbledore had a secret, 'Twinkly-Eyed-Professors' club going on that she didn't know about.

When Ginny heard the distinct _pop_ of someone apparating beside her in her living room a few minutes later, she crossed her arms and glared immediately.

"What?" Daphne feigned innocence at the look she was receiving.

Ginny's posture didn't change. "Don't play dumb with me Greengrass, what do you know?"

Daphne's grinned like a Cheshire cat. "It's not what I _know _exactly. It's what I've _heard, _all day in fact."

Ginny raised her ginger brows expectantly, "And?"

"The entire department was in a flurry talking about the latest scandal. You…"

Ginny's posture abruptly changed as she dropped her arms in shock. "What?"

"… and Malfoy." Daphne finished, her grin showing full blown glee now.

"There _is_ no scandal with me and Malfoy though. We're _partners_." Ginny emphasized.

"That's not what people saw at the party last night," Daphne countered easily.

"But that was—I mean it wasn't—What were people doing watching us anyway? They're supposed to be running security, not gawking at their co-workers," Ginny grumbled, but she knew she was stuck. They had gotten pretty intimate last night, fake or not.

"No, _you_ were heading security last night, not that you looked worried about that at the moment," Daphne teased.

"Shut up Greengrass." Ginny sighed. "What else were people saying?"

Daphne's grin faltered here and Ginny was instantly suspicious. "Daphne," Ginny said in a warning tone, "what else?"

"Well…" Daphne hesitated. "Word is getting around about what happened to Seamus Ginny, you have to admit, it looks bad."

"Bad?" Ginny inquired further, cocking a brow to indicate that Daphne should elaborate.

"Now who's playing dumb?" Daphne snorted derisively before continuing. "So let me break it down for you, oh clueless one. Seamus, who happens to be the ex boyfriend of the auror who's heading up security at Harry Bloody Potter's shin dig, happens to show up with the ex _girlfriend _of the auror who's partners with the auror who's heading up security for this said shin dig. _Coincidentally _at this same party Seamus turns up all bruised and bloodied in the deserted corridor when the head of security tells the department that alert was a false alarm. Following me?"

Ginny stared at her roommate blankly. "So what are you saying exactly Greengrass?"

"Ginny! Draco beat the shit out Seamus and you know it! That's auror brutality; he could get his auror license stripped and even get time in Azkaban for that. And even more shocking than that, is that he did it for _you._"

Ginny shook her head. "No, Daph, he did it in part _because_ of me. Not _for _me. Draco Pretentious Asshole Malfoy doesn't ever do a damn thing _for_ anyone except himself."

"Now if I'm all up to speed with the latest gossip, I think I'm going to turn in early. All this 'excitement' is giving me a migraine."

**2 Weeks Later…**

"Ginny!"

Ginny turned to see Harry running to catch up to her. She was currently walking down the hallway that led to the lifts with an empty paper cup that was previously filled with her morning coffee.

"What's up Harry?"

"I think I've got a lead on who's attacked Seamus at my party." Harry huffed, out of breath from his short sprint towards her.

Ginny's eyebrows shot up. "Are you still on that? Harry, it's been two weeks, Seamus doesn't even remember the attack so he's not trying to press charges. Let's just call it a random act of violence and be on with it. He's a Quidditch player; he probably has tons of rival's who were just itching to get a crack at him off the field."

"I know." Harry ran a hand exasperatedly through his messy locks. "But you can't say a bloke didn't try can you?"

Ginny patted him affectionately on the shoulder. "No one could've asked more of you Harry. But just out of curiosity what was this lead?"

Harry looked a little sheepish all of a sudden. "Well you kind of hit the nail on the head. I found out that one of the Beaters from the Wasps were at the party and wanted some revenge. They lost pretty badly to Puddlemere last month and Seamus was bragging about it at a press release a few days before the party."

Ginny suppressed a sigh of relief. The last thing she needed was her new partner to be implicated for assault. Even if he _was_ guilty. "Was that all?"

"Actually no, I need you and Malfoy to come by my office later to discuss a new case file I've come across. It's uh kind of a delicate project." Harry looked uncomfortable again and Ginny narrowed her eyes.

"Okay…" She agreed reluctantly. Ginny knew Harry well enough to see the tell tale signs of a brewing storm. The look he had in his eyes at the present moment would be comparable to the look a 17 year old teenage girl would get before having to tell her parent's she was pregnant and didn't know who the father was. Although Ginny highly doubted Harry was pregnant for some reason.

Two hours later found Ginny standing in front of Harry's office just as he had requested. She looked at her watch impatiently looking around for Draco. She had asked him to meet her at Harry's office at around noon and it was now twelve fifteen.

"_Oh well,_" Ginny thought. _"The wanker can just get the details later by himself." _

Without bothering to knock Ginny turned the knob, walked in and immediately frowned. Draco was sitting in one of the two wooden chairs that stood in front of Harry's desk feet spread apart, arms draped over the sides, lounging comfortably and looking for all the world as if he owned bloody the place.

Ginny wanted to deck him.

"You're late Weasley." He said by way of greeting.

Ginny resisted the urge to make a rude hand gesture. Old friend or not, they were still in the presence of their department head. Instead of the significant finger she wanted so badly to show him she said, "So terribly sorry." Through her teeth and turned to Harry.

"Okay, I know neither one of you wants to be here right now I'll cut right to the chase. I have a new case file that I just received from Kingsley. It's a special assignment that I normally would pass on to a senior auror." Ginny opened her mouth to argue but Harry, obviously anticipating the interruption held up a hand. "But," He continued, "Seeing as both of you far exceeded in your marks in testing and field work, I convinced Kingsley that you two would be the best for the job."

Ginny snapped her jaw shut.

"Well on with it Potter, what's this special assignment?" Draco cut in impatiently.

Ginny normally would've shot him a dirty look for being rude but she was as anxious as he was. This was her first big assignment since her old partner had left and she was itching for some excitement.

"It's an under cover assignment. We think we know where the remaining Death Eaters from the rebellion are hiding. We already have someone on the inside but it's too risky for them to have a regular correspondence with anyone that's been in the department long enough. They've been keeping tabs on us too." Harry's face darkened as he said this last part.

"So that's why you chose us," Ginny stated. "We're both relatively new to the department and don't have reputations yet. They won't have heard of us even if they are keeping tabs."

Harry looked uncomfortable again, "Well that's only part of it. You guys will still be under glamours just in case. Polyjuice is too risky again, someone will notice if you keep drinking out of a hip flask. Moody er Crouch I mean, kind of ruined that one for us."

"What's the other part?" Draco asked suspiciously.

Harry coughed. "The other part is the fact that you two are the only male and female team we currently have."

Draco looked confused but Ginny spoke before he could ask. "We're to pose as a couple aren't we?"

"Yes," Harry cleared his throat looking at Ginny wearily. "Newly weds in fact. No one would suspect you were corresponding with a spy if you take on the role of two people in wedded bliss on vacation. It's perfect."

"Oh yes," Ginny said earnestly. "Except for the fact that I'll be with _Malfoy_." She spat.

"What and you think this will all be sunshine and rainbows for me Red? Vacationing, even if we're acting, with you? I'd rather be placed on a slow riding broom to hell."

"That can be arranged," Ginny mumbled her breath..

"Where are we being sent to anyway?" Draco asked, ignoring Ginny's grumblings.

Harry brightened up noticeably at this inquiry. "That's the cool part of this whole thing. Ginny, you've always wanted to go to the states right?"

"Not with bloody him," Ginny jabbed a thumb in Draco's direction.

"Be mature Ginny." Harry admonished but his tone was brotherly.

"Alright, where? That's if I decide to accept. I do get a choice don't I?" Ginny gave Harry a significant look.

"Of course you get a choice," Harry said waving a hand dismissively. "I would just _highly_ encourage that you say yes." He grinned.

Ginny sighed. "So that means no."

"No it doesn't. It means you can say no, it just wouldn't be _wise_…"

"Just where the bloody hell is the assignment at so Weasley can say no, get fired or reassigned and I can get on with my life?" Draco interjected, clearly at his wits end.

"It's on the east coast, New York to be exact and you'll be right on the beach." Harry tried to sound cheerful.

Nobody seemed to see the suddenly stricken look on Draco's face.

"You know I used to have a saying. 'I can be just about anywhere as long as I'm in good company.' The key words of that saying don't really apply at the moment _boss_," Ginny replied icily.

"Oh come on Gin. The house that you guys will be staying in is beautiful. I had it remodeled and oversaw the whole thing myself. The stairs that come off the deck lead right to the sand. I hear the weather in the Hamptons is perfect this time of year."

Ginny glanced over in Draco's direction to see what he thought of all this and stared. His face was devoid of all color and the knuckles that were gripping the arms of his chair were white.

"Malfoy?" Ginny asked uncertainly.

He seemed straightened up suddenly, releasing his hold on the chair, some of the color coming back to his face. "We'll do it."

"What?" Ginny exclaimed incredulously. "Shouldn't we have a team discussion about this or something?"

"There is not discussion. The Death Eaters are in the Hamptons. Our job is to catch Death Eaters, so that's where we need to be. No discussion needed."

Ginny opened her mouth to protest again but Harry spoke first. "Now wait a minute Malfoy. Remember, you and Ginny are there strictly to be correspondents for our Mole. You're not doing any covert missions or anything while you're over there, it's too dangerous. All you two need to do is not blow your cover and make sure the information you gather from our guy gets to us safely. If you run into any problems you contact the American Ministry immediately and either we or they will send back up understand?"

"Perfectly. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I have a vacation to pack for." Draco said curtly before getting up and striding to the door.

"Wait!" Harry said hastily. "You don't even know how long you'll need to be out there." He pointed out.

Draco looked at him expectantly.

"Two months tops." Harry said without looking at Ginny. "That should be long enough to gather enough information to attack."

Draco nodded once and exited the office, the door closing with a soft _snick_. Ginny rounded on Harry. "What." She said. "Just happened?"

Harry shrugged apologetically. "Looks like you're going to the Hamptons with Malfoy."

"Like hell I am! You can't make me do this Harry; the guy is a royal prick, minus the royal!"

Harry's eyes were dejected as he stared at Ginny. "Ginny please, I need you to do this. You two are the only one's qualified for this job and quite frankly all that rot about giving it to senior auror's was Kingsley. I wouldn't trust this with anyone but you. I wouldn't have even offered if I didn't think you could do it. I almost begged Kingsley to let me ask you in the first place."

Ginny crossed her arms. "Flattery will get you nowhere Potter."

"It wasn't flattery it was the truth." Harry said seriously.

"You really need me to do this." It wasn't a question.

"Like I said, I wouldn't trust it to anyone but you. And I mean that in my professional and personal opinion; though that latter can be off the record."

"When I pull this off, and I mean _when_, because of course you're right, I _can_ do this," Ginny added a little smugly, "I want a bonus. Oh and a cookie. A really big one."

Harry grinned. "Done."

**A/N 2: **Next chapter- Ginny and Draco arrive at the Hamptons and have their first test of being a legitimate married couple.


	4. Welcome To Paradise

**A/N:** So it was pointed out to me that Ginny is a little whinny in this story. Well you would be too if you got dumped and cheated on and then it got splashed publically in the news and then you find out your pretty much arch nemesis from school is your new partner and you've just been assigned to be his play-along wife. C'mon now people. She won't be that way for long, though promise.

**Devious Chapter 4: Welcome To Paradise**

_***Dear mother,  
Can you hear me whining?  
It's been three whole weeks  
Since that I have left your home  
This sudden fear has left me trembling  
Cause now it seems that I am out here on my own  
And I'm feeling so alone_

Pay attention to the cracked streets  
And the broken homes  
Some call it the slums  
Some call it nice  
I want to take you through  
a wasteland I like to call  
my home  
Welcome To Paradise

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

"No way. Are you kidding me?" Daphne looked amazed.

"Are you really going to make me repeat myself?" Ginny groaned pinching the bridge of her nose.

The two girls women were sitting in the living of their shared flat, Ginny nursing a cup of very strong tea and Daphne staring amusedly at her on the couch.

"No, I'm in disbelief at your luck." Daphne fought back a smile.

"Stuff it Greengrass."

Daphne ignored her. "So how long are you gonna be gone?"

"Harry says two months tops."

"Right." Daphne said, standing up sounding suddenly decided about something. "Put on your coat Gin."

"Why?" Ginny looked abashed at her abruptness.

"Because," Daphne grinned. "We're going shopping."

"Again I ask, why?" Ginny put down her tea cup.

"Ginny," Daphne put her hands on her hips indignantly. "You are about to spend two months shacked up on the coast of the America's with a gorgeous blonde Adonis. You're gonna need a new bikini."

She looked Ginny up and down. "Okay along with the rest of your wardrobe."

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Three hours later found Ginny sitting in the middle of her bed, bags and bags stuffed full of sun dresses, bikini's, sandals, sun tan lotion, shorts, hats, jeans, tank tops and Merlin knew what else Daphne had found it 'imperative' that she buy. It was Ginny's own fault of course. She really shouldn't have told her that the department was covering any and all expenses Ginny and Malfoy may have during or for their assignment.

"It's a damn good thing I'm a witch." Ginny mumbled as she began waving her wand at the various shopping paraphernalia in her room.

Clothes and shoes flew out of the bags, landing in neat piles on her bed while the bags themselves flew to the corner of the room to be discarded later. She didn't even bother taking the tags off her new things before shrinking them all down to roughly the size of a baby dolls' and made the piles fly into her suitcase.

"There. All done." Ginny said to herself, satisfied.

Daphne chose this moment to pop her head into the door. "Done already?" She pouted. "That's no fun. I wanted to help."

"Sorry. All taken care of," Ginny said waving her wand pointedly.

"But you didn't even try anything on!" Daphne protested.

"Honestly woman, I'm going there on the _job_, who cares what I look like?" Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Obviously not you," Daphne grumbled.

"When do you leave again?"

"Tomorrow."

Daphne's eyes widened. "Well it's a good thing we went shopping today then. Goodness knows you would've been stuck in that ratty Weird Sisters t-shirt the whole time."

Ginny frowned. "What's wrong with my Weird Sisters t-shirt?"

Daphne chose not to comment.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Draco was standing in front of his empty suitcase contemplating the forces of the universe and how cruel they were. One would think that the fates or whatever higher power was responsible would cut him a break since he was the rebellious son of a Death Eater and was now actively trying to bring the downfall of the remainder of the most feared dark wizard of all times' followers. But no- he had to get stuck being in hiding for years and then demoted and then partnered with Ginny bleeding Weasley of all people in Harry fucking Potter's department with Mr. Save-The-World-In-The-Nick-Of-Time-Again as his boss no less.

Yes the universe was truly playing a cruel joke on him but what was a joke before was now turning disturbingly personal. Draco ran a hand impatiently through his now thoroughly tousled locks. It couldn't have been coincidence that the place where the Death Eaters were gathering was dangerously close to where his mother was in hiding. Lucius must be very close to finding her if he had relocated his minions to the U.S. The first thing Draco had done when he had gotten home was owl is mother about the new developments, but of course for the sake of his mission he could not divulge his own involvement in the situation. He had not heard back yet of course. International owls took a few days, sometimes even up to a week to be delivered. He would already be in the Hamptons by the time his mother even received his owl, let alone have time to write back.

"Fuck it." Draco mumbled finally and waved his wand at his armoire. A series of random articles of clothing flew out of the draws, settling themselves neatly into a pile in his suitcase and he snapped it shut with finality.

If he needed anything he'd just buy it there. It was to his knowledge that this was an all expense paid mission by the department anyway. Weasley would be happy. He smirked at the thought of spending two months pretending to be married happily to Ginny Weasley of all people. He hoped beyond hope that she had at least a semblance of some acting chops. If Potter's party had any indication, Draco thought she just may be able to pull it off. Maybe.

Having finished up with his packing Draco walked over to the fire blazing merrily in its grate- mocking his melancholy mood, the flickering flames almost dancing with laughter. He grabbed a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the blaze.

"Blaise Zabini," He called.

A moment later the person in question's head popped into view.

"Malfoy," Blaise greeted. "To what do I owe this annoyance?"

Draco cocked a brow. "Annoyance? You should be weeping for joy that I would find time out of my day to call on you Zabini."

"Your modesty astounds me," Blaise retorted. "What do you want?"

"I'm leaving the country for a few months on assignment so I won't be around for a while and I thought I'd let you know before I just skipped town."

Blaise frowned. "A few _months?_ What the hell for? And out of the country? Where are you going?"

"Yes a few months. On an assignment, I told you and I can't tell you that it's classified." Draco rolled his eyes impatiently.

"Somehow I knew you were going to say that," Blaise said grimly. "Well what are you going to do about—"

Draco held up a hand. "It's all been taken care of. The arrangements have been made."

"Well good," Blaise huffed. "Because I sure as hell wasn't going to."

"I know. Lazy bastard," Draco said, but he smiled.

"Well I guess I should say goodbye for a while then you cheeky little sod. Tell that cute blonde maid of yours that if she gets bored while you're away that my pillows need some fluffing."

"Is that the best excuse you have to get her into your bedroom? Zabini I do believe you are losing your touch." Draco commented dryly.

"At least I had one to begin with. Have fun on your 'trip' bring me back something pretty." And with a final cocky grin and a wink Blaise's head disappeared.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

"Bye Gin, I'll miss you." Daphne sniffed as she hugged her best friend and roommate goodbye the next morning.

The two women were in the department of magical transportation, where they would be receiving the special international portkey to get to the Hamptons. Draco had not arrived yet.

"I'll miss you too, don't sell any of my belongings while I'm gone or I'll set Fred and George on you when I get back."

Daphne blanched. "Why would I do that?"

"Because without me, you're compulsive shopping problem is bound to get out of control at some point. If that even is a possibility, call Hermione, she'll be able to rein you in." Ginny grinned.

"Oh get out of here you whinny little tramp. Go get a tan for me."

"Where's--?" Ginny's question broke off as she spotted a white blonde head bobbing into view amongst the hustle and bustle of the department. Unlike the other departments in the ministry where most of the space was dominated by cubicles and office's, the department of magical transportation had its own floor of special floo grates, apparition points, and portkey landing points.

"You're late," Ginny said when Draco reached them.

"I'm not. You're early," He replied simply.

"Smartass," Ginny couldn't resist saying.

"You are so juvenile," Draco retorted.

Ginny opened her mouth to speak but she snapped it shut immediately. She _was_ acting juvenile. She hardly ever called people names. Well apart from Fred and George and half of the names she called them were ones she had learned from them anyway. Draco just brought out the 15 year old in her that had shot him with the bat bogey hex in 5th year. Old habits did die hard.

"Well maybe you should stop being such a dick," Daphne came to her defense.

"Don't bother Daph. Asking him not to be a dick is like telling a cow not to moo." Ginny picked up her suitcase and headed for the portkey counter.

Draco shook his head after the retreated redhead, mock saluted Daphne and followed quickly after his partner.

The portkey ride was dizzy and uncomfortable as always. Ginny hated traveling that way and avoided it as much as possible. She landed hard in the middle of a small foyer, her suitcase flying out of her hands as she stumbled backward into something solid. Something solid and decidedly _warm._

Ginny glanced up quickly to find Draco's own suitcase on the ground next to them and his hands supporting her shoulders from behind. He must've dropped his suitcase in his haste to catch her.

_Reflex._ Ginny told herself before clearing her throat and stepping out of his grasp.

"I hate traveling by portkey, it gives me vertigo." Ginny blurted out randomly to break the awkward silence.

Her cheeks flushed immediately. _Wow that was a winner._ But to her utter surprise Draco was nodding in agreement.

"I feel the same way about flooing."

Ginny just nodded not trusting her voice. The situation itself was awkward enough, and she really didn't want to add to it by starting idle chit chat. Walking forward to grab her fallen suitcase, Ginny finally chanced a glance around. The house was small. It was more of a cottage than a house really. The foyer opened up into a long hallway that led off into a kitchen to the right and a large surprisingly open living area with large bay windows which were currently open, letting the soft white material of the curtains flapping in the breeze. The whole house was done in a bleached white wood and decorated in varying shakes of creams, beiges and off whites in a surprisingly tasteful manner with matching furniture. Ginny was pleasantly surprised with the décor to say the least.

Draco seemed to be having the same thoughts for he voiced aloud, "Wow, who knew Potter had interior decorating on his resume?"

"I was just thinking the same thing. Should I be afraid?" Ginny said.

"Of what?" Draco asked venturing into the kitchen where Ginny distinctly heard the sound of a fridge opening.

"That I'm already thinking on the same brain waves as you." Ginny clarified smirking.

"Well, we are married _darling,_" Draco said poking his head through the entryway before taking a large bite of an apple he had scrounged up.

"Don't," Ginny snapped, "call me darling."

"Okay honey," Draco said grinning mockingly at her.

Ginny shuddered. "That's disturbing."

"You're going to have to do better than that if we're going to complete this mission Weasley," Draco said seriously, dropping his now finished apple in the waste basket.

"Are you doubting my acting skills Malfoy?" Ginny challenged.

"Yes. Immensely in fact." Draco walked back into the room, grabbing his suitcase. He started heading down the second hallway to the master bedroom.

"Oh?" Ginny said, grabbing hers as well and following. "Are we forgetting about Harry's party already? I was under the impression that I pulled that one off a little too well; the whole office as talking about us for weeks."

"Of course they were." Draco's voice carried into the hallway from the back of the house. "It's me."

Ginny arrived in the room and looked around. The room was enormous. Obviously enchanted to look smaller and proportionate from the outside, the master bedroom was decorated in the same mix of whites and beige from the living room. Soft gauzy curtains hung from the large sliding glass doors that led out to a sun bleached white deck on the far end of the room and to her left stood a huge four poster hung with the same gauzy material as the curtains but in a creamy off white color. The bedspread was white with beige trim and the bathroom had a Jack and Jill sink with a giant pool sized basin sunk into the center. His and Hers bathrobes were hanging on the door hooks.

"Wonder where he got the inspiration for the tub?" Ginny asked sarcastically.

Upon closer inspection, the tub also had a series of taps running along one side of it, each one decorated with a different colored jewel.

Draco walked over to inspect the pool and smirked. "Ah, good times."

"I don't even wanna know," Ginny said holding up her hands and walking out of the bathroom.

"So, this contact that we're supposed to be meeting, do you know anything about him?" Ginny asked as Draco excited the bathroom behind her.

"Well for one it's a her," Draco corrected, waving his wand once so all his clothes piled into the walk in closet next to the bathroom.

"Really?" Ginny said, doing the same.

Draco nodded in affirmative but didn't continue.

"Is that all? Does she have a name? Do we know her? C'mon Malfoy we're supposed to be working _together_ here."

Draco only smirked at her. "C'mon Weasley, get dressed. We have dinner reservations."

"What?" Ginny spluttered at the sudden change in subject. "Since when?"

"Since now. Hurry up." Draco said.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

"I thought you said we had dinner reservations," Ginny grumbled fifteen minutes later at the bathroom door. She herself had been ready ten minutes ago, throwing on a fun but flirty green halter sun dress that Daphne had picked out, with matching green and white wedges and letting her hair flow natural and wavy down her back.

"We do," Draco voice called through the door.

"Then how is it that you're a man and you take longer to get ready than I do?" Ginny replied, annoyed.

"Because," Draco said emerging from the bathroom. "I'm not just any man, I'm Draco Bloody Malfoy."

Ginny gave him a once over and tried to mentally battle her mind away from being impressed. Draco was dressed in light khaki colored shorts, and a fitted white t-shirt over cobblestone abs and rippling pectorals. His hair was still damp from the shower and tousled in a very stylish I-tried-but-not-really kind of way that most men would kill to be able to pull off.

_Is it really necessary for unspeakables to be that buff?_ Ginny thought to herself and then blushed when she realized she was staring. She glanced quickly up to see if he had noticed and was chagrined to find that he was gazing steadily at her through hooded lids with a lazy smirk on his face.

"Actually," Ginny said aloud regaining her composure quickly, "You're Blake Dennis and I am your lovely, witty and delightful wife Catherine." Ginny finished with a flourish, reading from the case file in her hand.

Draco frowned reaching for the folder. "No no, you must be reading that wrong, they weren't supposed to pre-determine our actual personalities… " The hooded look was gone now quickly being replaced by sarcasm and dry humor.

"Oh shut up Malfoy, I am perfectly capable of being all those things."

"Somehow I highly doubt that."

Ginny scowled darkly up at the tall blonde. "You don't know me."

"Don't I though?" Draco cocked a brow challengingly at her.

"No. You really don't." Ginny said quietly for some reason.

"Let's go, we're going to be late and we still have to do our glamours." Draco said dismissing the subject.

The glamours that they had to cast on each other were actually an unspeakable product. Draco himself had helped develop it. This glamour was a customized one where the people holding the coinciding amulets were the only one's that could see the person as they really were. The amulets were designed to be kept on the said person at all times maintaining their body temperature as long as the glamour was still in tact. If the glamour stopped working or started to wear off the amulet would cool. This particular glamour was invented especially for covert missions such as this where people who were under cover, (should they get separated or have extenuating circumstances occur) would not get confused and lose their partner because they were wearing a different face.

Once the glamours were properly put on, Ginny strode ahead of Draco quickly and out the door without a backwards glance. It really infuriated Ginny how Malfoy talked like he knew all the inner most secrets and workings of the universe. And it especially irked her that she actually seemed to care what he thought. The last few weeks of working with him had definitely had her off kilter. It was affecting everything about her and she knew it. She was more snappy and stand offish than she normally was. She didn't go out with Hermione or visit her parents anymore because she had thrown herself into her work to prove that she was to be taken seriously. All that because her knew partner had a superiority complex to rival Voldemort himself and she was feeding straight into all his bullshit by arguing and being stubborn. Thus, proving all his theories (and Ginny would only refer to them as theories not fact) about her true.

But what was really bothering Ginny was reflecting back to the passed few weeks she realized that no matter how infuriating Draco Malfoy seemed to be and how much he appeared to be the same selfish arrogant asshat he was in school, he really just wasn't. She had tried to deny the subtle differences in his personality from the minute they had gone on assignment together. They had their somewhat sibling like rivalry and constant banter but none of his remarks were cutting or directly hurtful like they used to be in school. There were no jabs about her upbringing or her lack of monetary resources, no immediate insults about her crush on Harry or even anything about Ron.

In fact if Ginny really thought about it, ever since that night of Harry's party, he generally just let her walk all over him. She stopped dead in her tracks at that thought and Draco nearly plowed into her.

An elderly couple was passing by on the sidewalk and Draco gave them a forced friendly smile before gripping Ginny's arm tightly.

"What's the matter?"

Suddenly, Draco's close proximity was making her uneasy and Ginny stepped away from him gingerly. "Nothing, I just thought I forgot something back at the house."

"Well did you?" The annoyance was clear in his tone.

"No, I'm good. Lets go."

The rest of the walk to the restaurant was a silent one. Once they neared the corner where the small establishment was located, Draco pulled out a piece of paper from one of the many pockets in his cargo shorts and handed it to Ginny silently.

On it read a single name: Jenna Aimes.

Ginny nodded quickly, understanding. She stuffed the piece of paper the clutch she had brought along and reached down to lace her fingers through Draco's.

Draco looked momentarily shocked so Ginny reminded him, "We're in happily wedded bliss remember? Game face."

Draco grinned, "Ten galleons say you blow it before I do." And he removed his fingers from hers, wrapping his arm around her waist instead.

"You're on," Ginny grinned back and snuggled into his side, slapping a goofy grin on her face as they reached the host standing outside the restaurant.

"Dennis." Draco said smoothly when they were standing at the door.

"Ah yes," The doorman said politely, "Your guest has already arrived and is waiting for you at table four. Dylan here can show you to your table. Enjoy your meal Mr. and Mrs. Dennis."

Ginny smiled winningly at him and batted her eyelashes, "Thank you ever so much."

Draco steered them away from the doorman to follow a tall overly tan boy with sun bleached hair and surfer build toward the back of the restaurant.

"Thank you ever so much?" Draco repeated quietly in Ginny's ear.

The smile never left her face. "Shut the hell up _darling_," Ginny said through her teeth.

Draco chuckled quietly under his breath.

"Here is your table Mr. and Mrs. Dennis." They had been led to the very back of the restaurant away from all the other patrons to a private banquet room through a set of double doors. "Your server shall be with you shortly." And he bowed out of the room closing the doors behind him.

"Thanks ever so much!" Draco mocked in a high pitched voice after him.

Ginny punched him in the arm.

"Ouch! Is that any way to treat your husband?"

"Yes, violence is never the answer Weasley. Well unless you're a Death Eater. Which technically, I am."

Ginny gaped openly at the woman who was currently sitting at their table. The woman had a long sheath of dark hair pulled back into a plait, severe cheek bones, pale skin and a prominently up turned, pug-like nose. She was wearing a knee length halter sun dress much like Ginny's but with a floral pattern adorning it with slip on white sandals and a daisy through her thick braid.

"Honey," Draco said indicating the dark haired girl, "I'd like you to meet _Jenna Aimes_."

"Oh Merlin, and I thought this assignment couldn't get any worse."

"_Muffliato,"_ Pansy muttered swiftly before indicating they should sit. "Nice to see you too Weasley."

"_You're_ our contact?" Ginny was still incredulous.

"No, I just decided to crash your newly wed romantic dinner for two for shits and giggles." Pansy retorted, taking a sip out of her already half empty wine glass. "And you're late."

"Draco took a long time putting on his make up." Ginny explained.

"I do _not_ wear make up," Draco scowled.

"Whatever, look lets cut to the chase. Yes I'm your contact, and outside this room I am Jenna Aimes and you two are Mr. and Mrs. Dennis. If you even slip once, we're all dead you understand?" Pansy glared at the two of them pointedly.

"Look, I'm not the rookie here sister so let's re-establish the pecking order shall we?" Ginny countered.

"This isn't a pissing contest Weasley she's just covering the prelims, just chill." Draco consoled.

"Yes, be a good submissive housewife." Pansy sneered.

"Can it Parkinson or I'll blow this whole mission by scraping your face off with my salad fork." Ginny growled.

"God, can you be any more volatile and unprofessional?" Draco snapped. "It's like working with a five year old."

"You Slytherins just seem to bring it out in me. But really Malfoy, Parkinson? Can we even trust her?"

"I wouldn't be here if you couldn't Weasley. Don't forget, we have the same boss, he asked me here." Pansy said.

"Okay you two, cut the bullshit for two seconds. What do you have for us Pans?"

For some reason, hearing Draco call Pansy by her nick name from school sent a pang through Ginny that she couldn't explain. She knew Draco and Pansy were chummy in school, they even dated if she recalled correctly but it never occurred to her that their 'contact' would be someone closer to his end of the line not hers. And she was so hoping to have an ally.

"As you know the DE headquarters was moved here to the Hamptons quite suddenly and the remaining Death Eaters have set up shop here so to speak. You guys got here a lot quicker than I thought. Activity has been minimal, no one has been sent on any major projects and he hasn't even sent out a hunting party yet, so we have an advantage already."

"Are we sure that's what he's here for?" Draco asked eyes dark with something Ginny couldn't place.

"It'd be a helluva coincidence wouldn't it?" Pansy said raising her dark brows at him.

Ginny glanced back and forth between the two in confusion. "What the hell are you two going on about? What would be a coincidence?"

Pansy looked startled. "You haven't told her?"

"Told me what?" Ginny stared at Draco.

"No," Draco said looking away from both women, clearly uncomfortable.

"I can't believe you dragged her into this and didn't even tell her why—"

Draco's glare cut Pansy off mid sentence but she shot daggers at him through her eyes for the interruption.

"Told me _what_ Draco?" Ginny pressed, using his given name for the first time.

"My father," Draco began in a tightly controlled voice. "He was the leader of the uprising. He was supposed to succeed Voldemort after his death. He needed to perform a ritual to achieve immortality and in order to do that he needed the blood of his offspring. My mother interrupted the ritual before it could be completed and she and I barely escaped with our lives. He's been hunting for her ever since to get revenge on her and me for not rejoining his cause."

"Well where is she now?" Ginny asked knowing what the answer was before she voiced the question.

"Take a wild guess," Pansy retorted.

"But how did he know to look here? Who else knows where your mother is?" Ginny asked Draco. He was still looking at the table top and refused to meet either of their eyes.

"No one. We were supposed to be each other's secret keepers but something must've tipped him off. I haven't even had contact with her for almost a full year now."

"So that's why you were so cavalier about this mission." Ginny said in wonder. "Wait a minute," Her mind switched gears, "Isn't this a conflict of interests then? We're supposed to be bringing down the resistance not protecting your mother. And since you're father is the one leading the resistance…"

Draco was shaking his head before Ginny could finish. "Why do you think I got hired on so quickly to be an auror when I did? I mean yeah, I wanted this job but come on Weasley, I may be good but it's Potter. Lucky for all of us he put the good of wizarding world into consideration more than his pride."

Ginny nodded in agreement. If Harry was one thing he was selfless, especially when it came to wizard-kind.

"Well what do we do now? You said nothing was going on yet," Ginny said, addressing Pansy.

"We go see Narcissa Malfoy."

"Oh joy."


	5. Right Round

A/N: So writers block is the bitchiest bitch to rule all bitches in the universe. I had SO much trouble getting through this chapter but I finally did it with the help of re-reading some of my old favorites. My creative juices are flowing once again. The next chapter will be out faster promise!

**Devious Chapter 5: Right Round **

***_You spin my head right round right round_

_When you go down when you go down down_

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

"So what's the plan?" Ginny stared at Draco while munching on a bag of potato chips on the couch.

The two had returned to the beach house shortly after their meeting with Pansy and were now sitting on opposite chairs in the living room.

"We're going to see my mother," Draco replied.

"Yes, I was there for that portion Captain Obvious, I meant _how?_"

"I was thinking of just waltzing up to her villa in the dead of night and banging loudly on the door demanding that she come out immediately or Death Eaters are going to come and eat her."

Ginny glared.

"What? Not a good plan?"

"Can you be serious for two seconds? At this rate we're never going to get anything done." Ginny put the bag of chips down. "Look I'm not a good follower."

"Could've fooled me with the way you trailed after Potter all those years."

Ginny scowled, "Can I finish?"

"By all means," Draco grinned.

"I'm not good at following but the ball's in your court with this one Malfoy. You're the only one know knows where Narcissa is, therefore you're the only one who knows how to get to her undetected."

"And the Captain Obvious badge goes to you…" Draco said.

"So I say we go now." Ginny proposed.

"Now?" Draco stared at her as if she were daft.

"Yes. Because if you weren't expecting it, then neither will they."

Draco stared at her for a moment before answering. "Meet me back here in ten minutes and you better be ready to go."

"Wait why? Where are you going?" Ginny stood up as Draco headed for the back door.

"I'll be right back," Was all he said before the door slammed behind him.

Ten minutes later found Ginny back in her bag of potato chips, this time with the T.V. flipped on to the soap network. How muggles could watch such inane overly acted programs was beyond her. She looked at her watch and crumpled up her now empty bag of chips to take to the garbage when she heard the back door slam.

She looked at her watch again. "It's been eleven minutes Malfoy and I bet you're not even—"

"Ready?" Draco entered the kitchen but he was not wearing the khaki shorts and white t-shirt Ginny expected him to walk in with. He was now dressed entirely in black, completely in contrast with his earlier attire. If Ginny thought Draco had looked good in white, it was nothing in comparison to how he looked in black. The tight white t-shirt was replaced with a- surprise surprise- tight back t-shirt over black loose fitting jeans.

"What's with all the black?" Ginny asked tearing her eyes away from Draco's godlike form with the ill concealed mixture of disgust and awe.

"My mother says black is very becoming on me."

"Well that doesn't sound gay at all." Ginny quipped brushing passed him with a suppressed smirk.

"Oh and wearing baggy jeans and a weird sisters t-shirt is the object of femininity?" Draco shot back before he could stop himself.

"Why is everyone ragging on that t-shirt? I _love _that shirt."

"Precisely. Now lets go."

"What were you doing outside?" Ginny probed again and seeing the look on Draco's face added, "You were hoping I'd forget wouldn't you? What are you hiding Draco Malfoy?"

"All in due time Red." Draco brushed off her query and headed for the door. "But for our sakes, lets just hope we don't need it."

"Need _what?_" Ginny complained as she raced toward the door that was beginning to shut behind him.

Once they were outside the house and on the sidewalk again Ginny chanced a glance at her watch. It was almost eleven o'clock. A couple that seemed to be on a midnight stroll was headed their way and Ginny quickly latched herself on to Draco's arm and plastered a 'I'm so in love' grin on her face.

"Any excuse to touch me huh?"

"Go choke on something large," Ginny said through her grin. She looked at her watch again.

This time Draco noticed. "Need to be somewhere?"

"What? Oh." Ginny looked down at her wrist. "Nervous habit, I think I picked it up from Ha— er my boss."

Ginny had almost said Harry's name out loud and if any prying ears were nearby it would have blown their cover. Draco seemed to realize this as well for he leaned in to whisper in Ginny's ear.

"And you're sure you were ranked at the top of your class in covert missions?"

"I never said that," Ginny whispered back, "Just that I was good at them. Well I used to be anyway."

"Well then I suggest that you get good at them again, and fast."

They were now headed in the outskirts of town where there were far less vacationers and far more empty alleys and streets.

"Where are we?"

"Her Villa is just up the block here. We have to keep a close eye out from here on out. My father has eyes everywhere."

Ginny suppressed a shudder. She may have been a highly trained auror and even faced Voldemort himself but thinking about Lucius Malfoy and all his malevolent creepified glory still wigged her out.

Draco seemed to sense something for his turned to look down at her. "Nervous?"

"Hardly," Ginny said, holding up her head loftily. "I don't think your mother could pose as much of a threat to me. Well unless one could kill with snobbishness, in which case I would've been struck dead the minute you stepped into my building Malfoy."

"Always classy with the insults aren't you?"

Ginny grinned and batted her eyelashes as they approached the huge villa now imposing in front of them. "Always darling."

The two made their way up to the front porch which was lighted by a single oil burning lamp. Draco reached up to knock when the door clicked open softly before his fist made contact. Ginny drew her wand immediately. The two gave each other a significant look before Draco drew his own wand and led the way silently into the house. As soon as Ginny had stepped into the foyer the door clicked shut behind her. The house swathed in complete darkness.

"Lumos," Draco muttered and Ginny followed suit raising her wand in front of her.

"Where--?" Ginny never got to finish her question for at that moment a jet of red light had come streaking toward them from the top of the stairs.

Ginny lunged to the side feeling the hex graze her left ear as Draco dove for the ground in the same instant.

"Drat!" A distinctly female voice was heard from above.

Another streak of red shot towards them but this time Ginny was ready.

"Stupify!" Ginny aimed her wand in the general direction of the voice. There was a muffled thump from the top of the stairs and Ginny scrambled back to her feet, Draco right behind her.

They were halfway up the stairs however when a third jet of light, this time purple, came shooting toward them, coming right at Ginny's face.

"Impedimenta!" Ginny shouted and the two hexes glanced off each other flying over the railing.

Ginny's curse however had illuminated enough of the landing above them to identify their attacker and Draco yelled, "Stop!"

Ginny froze with her foot on the top stair as Draco shoved passed her holding his wand aloft. Taking a few steps forward, his wand light fell upon the imposing figure of a very harassed but tanned Narcissa Malfoy.

"Who are you?" Narcissa demanded at once. "You don't look like Death Eaters."

"That's because we're not," Ginny commented dryly.

"Hello mother," Draco said, lowering his wand. "Long time no see."

Narcissa squinted into the wand light peering at Draco with shrewd eyes.

"Draco?"

"Yes mother, it's me."

"Prove it."

"My name is Draco Cassius Blake Malfoy, born June 5th to Narcissa Black Malfoy and the man I affectionately call the devil or the sperm donor. You named me after each of my grandfathers. You and I both hate the madman that we respectively call husband and father which consequently is the reason why I am here. I am your secret keeper and the only one who knows the location of your whereabouts which also makes it possible that I _am_ here in the first place. Satisfied?"

Ginny had to hold back a grin. Narcissa may not know whos face Draco was wearing but she had to know that no one in the world could be as big of a smart ass as Draco Malfoy.

Narcissa lowered her wand. "Yes. But not because of the painfully easy facts that you just listed dear, anyone who wanted to impersonate you bad enough would have been able to torture those facts from you or used Veritaserum. No, the sheer cheek in which you stated these things however, was unmistakable. No one could master that look of contempt no matter what face they had on."

Now Ginny did grin. Maybe she had been too hard on her judgments of Narcissa Malfoy.

"Now son, you may want to do a bit of explaining considering you just broke into your mothers house and almost gave her a heart attack. I'm not as young as I once was you know."

Draco inclined his head, "My apologies mother, but circumstances deemed it necessary at the time."

"Plus, we're aurors and it just makes us doubly paranoid." Ginny added.

Narcissa fixed her gaze on Ginny for the first time. "And who is this charming young lady?"

"Before we say anything more, is the house secure?" Draco asked glancing around the landing.

"Of course it is Draco, what do you take me for?" Narcissa said looking highly offended. "I didn't survive being a Death Eater's wife for almost 30 years because I was daft." And before he could reply she had swept up her night dress skirt and was headed down the hall.

The two followed in silence, holding their wands out for light as Narcissa led them into the enormous master bedroom that was complete with a huge four poster bed with gauzy white hangings, large bay windows and a sitting area with plush looking arm chairs in front of a fireplace that looked like it hadn't been used in ages.

Narcissa situated herself on one of the arm chairs and indicated that the two should sit. Once they were settled Narcissa settled Draco with a stern glare.

"Now, as glad as I am to see you Draco, you would understand me when I say I'm a little weary as well?"

"As you should be," Draco said. "Father's in town mother. He knows you're here."

Ginny was prepared for an emotional tirade; a shocked gasp even at the very least. What she wasn't prepared for however was the tired sigh and the look of resignation that crossed the fair haired woman's face sitting before her.

"It was a matter of time of course. I'm surprised it's even taken him this long to find me. So this is why you're here? To warn me? Because I assure you Draco I am more than capable of handling myself. No need to waste man power on one person when there are still murders and madmen running loose in the world."

"Those murderers and madmen are being headed by the man that happens to be tracking you mother. Of course I had to come." Though his words were caring, Draco's face remained carefully neutral and Ginny had to wonder what the exact dynamic of Draco and his mothers relationship was.

"Well I'm sure that you and Miss—I'm sorry dear Draco has been terribly rude," She shot him a significant glare, "what was your name again?"

"Ginny." Ginny said, "Ginny Weasley."

This time Ginny got the reaction she was anticipating. Narcissa's blonde eye brows, almost identical to the man sitting beside her, shot up into her hair at the mention of Ginny's surname and at the moment she looked so much like Draco she almost laughed.

"Weasley? Not Arthur Weasley's daughter?"

"The one and only. Here," Ginny said taking out her glamour talisman and tapping it with her wand. "There really is no point for these while we're here." As soon as her wand tip had touched the talisman Narcissa's eyes widened. Ginny didn't look any different to Draco or herself of course, but she knew that Narcissa was watching the glamour melt away to reveal her true face.

"So it is. There really is no mistaking that red hair is there?" Narcissa said, but not unkindly. Then she looked at Draco whose glamour had also dropped along with Ginny's since they were connected. "Well it is much better talking to faces I recognize."

"Well now that we've all established who we are," Draco said a bit impatiently. "We need to talk about your security measures."

"I have plenty of security measures Draco, if you hadn't noticed; I was notified of your presence the moment you stepped on my driveway."

"Yes, how was that by the way? I didn't detect any magical interference when I walked in."

Narcissa gave Draco a satisfied sort of look before answering. "You wouldn't. I have hidden muggle surveillance camera's surrounding the entire villa. As much as your father detested them, some of their inventions really were quite genius. As soon as the silent alarm was set off I prepared to ambush you from the top of the stairs."

Ginny was impressed despite herself and also made a mental note to mention this to her father the next chance she got. The fact that Narcissa Malfoy was using muggle surveillance equipment as security against Death Eaters epitomized irony at it's best and she didn't think anyone would appreciate it as much as her father.

Draco seemed to be having similar thoughts as he studied his mother. "Surveillance cameras? I didn't know you were so technological mother."

"Well I have been living in the muggle world for over five years now and if it's taught me one thing, it's that the wizarding world has no advancement when it comes to modern technology. I never realized just how archaic our society was."

Draco stared at his mother. "Who are you? And what have you done with Narcissa Malfoy?"

This time Ginny couldn't stifle her laughter and quickly changed it into a cough before she was caught.

"Okay, all joking aside for now, we need to get you out of here. Lucius is far too close to pinpointing your exact location and he's even moved the entire Death Eater headquarters close by. This isn't just a side project anymore, it's getting really intense real quick and your safety is our number one concern here."

Ginny looked at Draco swiftly as he said this. Draco had used the plural indicating the aurors as a whole, but the last time Ginny checked, their department had no idea that Narcissa Malfoy was the objective, let alone that she was the center of Lucius's evil plans for revenge slash world domination.

Narcissa must've caught the look Ginny gave Draco for she replied, "You're number one concern Draco? Or theirs?"

"Ours," Ginny jumped in quickly. "All we know is that the thing Lucius wants the most right now is you, and we don't want him getting his hands on anything that he deems necessary. We need any upper hand we can get and if that means protecting you, we'll do it."

Draco nodded in agreement a little too enthusiastically to be completely authentic but Narcissa dropped the topic.

"So what now?" Narcissa said when the silence stretched a little too long to be comfortable.

"We meet up with Pansy and make a defensive strategy for protecting the house and making sure father can't pinpoint your exact location. The villa is unplottable?"

"Of course," Narcissa said in a slightly affronted tone. "Dumbledore helped me erect them himself."

Draco nodded in approval, "Good. Now we should get going before someone notices we're gone."

Draco made a move to stand up when Narcissa spoke again. "When you say Pansy, you don't mean Parkinson do you?" The question was innocent but her tone indicated otherwise and Ginny glanced curiously at the suddenly annoyed look on her partners face.

"Yes mother, she's our contact. She's been working under cover for years now. Surely you knew that?"

"Well I was just wondering since you two would be working in such close contact that…" Narcissa let the sentence trail off.

"We would be back together?" Draco finished. "Mother, don't you know by now that it goes against all rules of human nature, wizarding or otherwise, to date the person your parent's want you to date?"

"Well a mother can still dream can't she?" Narcissa sniffed. "She was such a lovely girl."

"Good bye mother." Draco said; the finality clear in his voice as they stood up to exit the villa.

So with the promise to come back as soon as they could with news and when it was safe, Draco and Ginny headed toward the foyer where they reactivated their glamour talismans and transfigured their clothes back to normal beach wear. Though the building was invisible to anyone else but them and it was the dead of night, Ginny and Draco still stepped off the porch onto the public sidewalk as casually as possible so not to draw attention to themselves. Once they were completely out of the safety of the fidelius charm, the two partners casually started walking in the direction of their beach home. They had only taken a few steps when Ginny suddenly felt Draco stiffen slightly beside her and almost simultaneously felt all the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Draco, who was holding Ginny's hand (force of habit) suddenly leaned in pulling Ginny flush against him and buried his face in her neck. Ginny catching on quickly let out a high pitched giggle. "Stop it honey, we're in public!" She exclaimed giddily while Draco moved his face up to her ear.

"The alley on the east side of town near the restaurant," He murmured.

Ginny gave an infinitesimal nod as Draco pulled away dragging her towards the restaurant where they met Pansy earlier. Though it made her feel like an idiot and a floozy to do it, Ginny made sure to giggle and smile at Draco adoringly the entire way there and Draco to his credit gave the rather impressive image of someone in a rapid hurry to get laid.

Their destination was a just a few blocks away but it felt like a millennia to Ginny. The swoony giggling housewife routine was really getting old. Once they had reached the mouth of the alley, Draco suddenly turned around, grabbing her by the wrist, and shoved her, (more roughly than Ginny thought necessary) against the wall.

In a matter of seconds his face as buried in Ginny's neck again and this time Draco growled, "Make it convincing Weasley."

Ginny saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye and let out a loud moan just as Draco started to trail kisses down her neck towards the neckline of her newly transfigured sun dress.

"Mmm baby, don't stop," Ginny gasped loudly and throatily and Draco glanced up at her quickly raising an eyebrow.

Ginny took his moment of vulnerability to take control, grabbing the front of his shirt turning him so he was the one backed into the wall. She stepped up on her tippy toes to gently nip his earlobe, causing a small gasp from Draco before whispering, "Convincing enough for you?"

Draco seized her around the waist placing her on top of a garbage bin behind her and positioning himself between her legs. "Yes," He whispered back. "One might even think you weren't faking."

Ginny wrapped her legs around his hips and dragged him closer grabbing his face in her hands, palms on either side of his face. "Dream on, M--"

"Hey!" An unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out in the alley and a bright light flashed in their eyes. Ginny heard the distinct _pop_ of someone dissaparating near them and raised her hand to shield her eyes.

"What are you two doing out here?" The voice was closer this time and the light lowered, the dim moonlight revealing a middle aged balding man wearing a tan uniform holding a large flashlight.

"Sorry officer," Draco said looking genuinely sheepish. "The wife and I were on a midnight stroll and well, to tell you the truth, the combination of the moonlight and her in this dress and I couldn't keep my hands off her." And he stared into her eyes so intensely as he said the last part that Ginny flushed in earnest.

"Oops," She giggled covering her mouth with her hand daintily. Then she shifted slightly so the skirt of her dress rode up a little higher and she watched as the police officers eyes moved to her exposed thigh.

Color rose up in the officers face as he cleared his throat rather loudly and exclaimed, "Well it's passed curfew, so you should be on your way. I'll let you go this time but stay off the streets if you can. Lots of shady characters around these parts these days and you can never be too careful."

"Yes sir," Ginny saluted him hopping off the trash can in the most dignified way she could muster as she grabbed Draco's hand and practically dragged him out of the alley.

The walk back to their house was a silent one and it wasn't until the wards were secure over their house and the two were standing safely in their bedroom did either of them speak.

"That was close," Draco said, expelling a breath.

"Well no one told you to shove me up against the wall like that, I couldn't move could I?" Ginny protested.

Draco looked at her amusedly, "I was talking about the Death Eater that almost ambushed us before the rent-a-cop intervened."

"Oh. Right." Ginny said, feeling supremely stupid.

"Yeah, and as for the wall action, I thought you were quite enjoying yourself Weasley." Draco said, moving towards the bathroom.

"Oh yes," Ginny bit out sarcastically, walking to the closet to remove her dress. "It was just about as appealing as playing leap frog with a unicorn. And if my memory serves me right Malfoy, I believe you were the one that was getting a little into it. Don't think I won't get you back for coping a feel back there."

Ginny heard Draco snort from the bathroom. "Please Weasel, I'd sooner feel up a Hippogriff voluntarily than you."

"You would," Ginny muttered under her breath, pulling on an oversized, orange chudley cannons t-shirt.

"What was that?" Draco said emerging from the bathroom, toothbrush in hand.

"I said," Ginny started, trying to ignore the fact that Draco had unbuttoned his shirt all the way, "It looked and felt pretty voluntary to me."

"That wasn't voluntary, it was necessary," The Death Eater was almost on top of us. I'm just glad he had the sense to disappear when that officer showed up.

"Do you think they suspect who we are?" Ginny said, taking her hair down from its elastic and shaking it out.

"I don't think so," Draco said through his toothpaste filled mouth. "I think they were just looking for some muggles to toy with and he got unlucky.

"I sure hope so. Harry would have my head if our cover was blown this early. And even if it was, there's only one other person who knows who we really are…" Ginny trailed off. "You don't think--?"

"No," Draco said emerging from the bathroom toothpaste free. He was not smiling. "Pansy wouldn't sell me out like that. She's on our side."

Without waiting for a response he turned and disappeared into the depths of their walk in closet. The vehemence in his tone had shocked Ginny. She never took Draco to be the defensive type. But then she remembered what Narcissa had said back at her villa. Judging by her tone, Draco and Pansy had been pretty serious. It suddenly dawned on Ginny that the type of women Draco liked to date were the stereotypical supermodel type: Tall and lithe with straight flowing hair and bone structure that looked like it was sculpted by the Gods themselves. She glanced down at herself in her oversized t-shirt and suddenly felt extremely frumpy. Chastity Charmichael and even Pansy probably wore something with an eighth of the amount of fabric that Ginny's t-shirt was and made entirely of lace.

Ginny had had wavy hair. It cascaded more than flowed down her back and she was petite not tall. She had lean muscle from auror training and extensive workouts but not graceful. When it came to bone structure she only had the basics: anything needed to hold her up. And she was pretty sure her shirt was made of cotton. Frowning at her sudden bout of insecurity Ginny merely nodded and headed for the bed at exactly the same moment Draco emerged from the closet, clad in lightweight linen pajama bottoms and nothing else.

The two came up short and stared at each other. Then stared at the bed. Then back at each other.

"There's only one bed." Draco stated, all animosity gone.

"Yup."

"I'll play you for it."

"You're on," Ginny said, holding up her right fist.

"Ready? On my count," Draco said holding his up as well.

"One, two three!"

"Wand, Bludger, Werewolf!" The two chorused and on the last syllable Ginny was holding her index finger out pointing it at Draco and Draco was holding his hand into a claw.

"Ha!" Ginny yelled triumphantly. "Wand beats Werewolf." She shoved at pillow at him. "Enjoy the couch lover."

"That method is so juvenile, who even came up with that?"

"I believe his name was Albus Dumbledore. Now get moving, I'm tired and this bed is practically singing to me to sleep in it."

"Best two out of three," Draco argued, not moving.

"Nuh uh," Ginny shook her head. "Not a chance, I won fair and square."

"But Malfoys don't sleep on the couch." Draco protested.

"They do now." Ginny grinned throwing back the covers and nestling herself under the covers. Grabbing her wand from the bedside table, Ginny flicked her wrist and the lights went out plunging the room into darkness. "Goodnight partner."

"Witch."

"And?"

The next morning dawned bright and early, with sunshine streaming through the curtains and birds chirping in the air. If she hadn't been forced to be on assignment with the devils son, Ginny may have actually enjoyed the place. Stretching and yawning, she quickly ran a brush through her tangled locks and padded into the kitchen where she found a very disgruntled looking Draco nursing a cup of coffee.

"Good morning!" Ginny chirped extra brightly just to piss him off.

"For you maybe, I didn't get any sleep at all." Draco grumbled.

"And why is that darling?" Ginny asked sweetly, pouring herself a cup of coffee as well.

"Because some selfish immature little brat kicked me out on the couch last night," Draco was glaring at her as if his look alone might make her head blow up.

"Well if someone had remembered that he was a _wizard_ and transfigured the couch into a _bed_ or at the very least enlarge it, he wouldn't have had a problem now would he?" Ginny batted her eyelashes as she sat down across from the blonde.

Draco blinked. "I didn't think of that."

"I gather," Ginny smirked into her coffee. "And they told me you were smart."

"And they told me you'd be tolerable."

"Well I guess we were both lied to then weren't we?" Ginny said, still smiling despite the jab.

Truth be told she did feel a little guilty about kicking Draco out on the couch last night, but there was no way in Hades that she was going to sleep in the same bed as him. Especially when he looked that good with no shirt on… No, that wouldn't have been good at all.

"I owled Pansy this morning while you were still asleep. She's meeting us here in a few hours to discuss what we're doing about my mother." Draco changed the subject, clearly not in the mood to fight.

Ginny raised her eyebrows her mug stopping half way to her lips. "I didn't know what we were doing was up for discussion."

"It isn't. I say what happens to her and you and Pansy do exactly what I tell you. That is our discussion."

"Uh the last time I checked, a discussion involved more than one person talking."

"Look Weasley, I divulged the whereabouts of my mother to you because I had to, don't make me regret it."

Ginny put her mug down. "This isn't just about _you_ Malfoy. This is a matter of the whole of wizarding race. Whatever your father is up to, he needs Narcissa Malfoy and possibly you to achieve it and I am going to do anything and everything in my power to make sure he does not obtain those things, understand me?"

The red head and blonde glared at each other, neither one willing to back down before the other.

"Fine," Draco relented. "But if we're doing this, I want to have full responsibility of my mother."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Ginny conceded.

"Good, now get dressed, Pansy will be here soon."

Ginny inwardly rolled her eyes, picking up her coffee again and heading for the master bathroom. They had been there twenty four hours and already the name 'Pansy' was starting to wear on her.

_Pansy, Pansy, Pansy. All he cares about is Pansy Pug-nose Parkinson. _Ginny thought bitterly to herself. Then she came up short. _Wait a minute. Am I _jealous_? I am so not jealous of that pug-nosed little brat; with her perfectly straight hair and designer clothes and fancy lingerie._ Ginny continued to argue with herself while searching out the outfit she wanted to wear that day. She was about to reach for her modestly long, flowing summer skirt and a plain t-shirt when Draco's voice from the night before floated unwillingly into her head.

"_Please Weasel, I'd sooner feel up a Hippogriff voluntarily than you."_

Well if Draco found Hippogriffs to be more attractive than her, then there was no reason to dress like she was going to see her mother now was there? With that thought in mind, Ginny skipped over her t-shirts and long skirts to the other side of the closet towards the back…

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen Draco was struggling to stay awake. He had stubble on his chin and dark circles under his eyes. The half drunken coffee in his hand had gone cold and his eyes started to droop. He glanced at the clock. Pansy wasn't due for another few hours at the least so he trudged back into the living room, waving his wand at the couch as he went turning it into an enormous king sized four poster, complete with dark green velvet hangings. It took up most of the room but at that moment in time Draco could care less if the room broke apart as long as the bed was still there. Climbing onto the green and black duvet that adorned the bed, he closed his eyes and quickly fell into a deep slumber.

**A/N:** I know, you waited that whole time for not a whole lot, but I promise the next one will be out by next week. (Or sooner if I keep up this roll I'm on.) Don't worry though, things will get interesting in the next chapter. :D


	6. Let The Flames Begin

**A/N:** I know I said that I would try to get this chapter out last week but writing this one has been like pulling teeth. It took me three different drafts and erasing up to 3 pages at a time and rewriting them to get this out so here it finally is, late but here. Thank you all for your patience and kind words. You keep me going. :D

**Devious Chapter 6: Let The Flames Begin**

_***What a shame we all became such fragile, broken things.  
A memory remains just a tiny spark.  
I give it all my oxygen,  
To let the flames begin  
To let the flames begin._

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

When Ginny finally exited the bedroom to find where Draco had gone, it was to find a huge four poster bed dominating the living room and a prone blonde figure, breathing evenly sprawled atop it. Just as Ginny opened her mouth to wake him a sharp shushing noise was heard from the corner of the room. Ginny's wand flew into her hand and she was greeted by the sight of Pansy stepping out of the shadows with her finger pressed to her lips.

"Parkinson," Ginny said, putting her wand down. "Don't you know better than to sneak up on an auror like that?"

Pansy lowered her hand and spoke softly, her gaze traveling over to the sleeping Draco, "Yes. Sneaking is kind of my specialty Weasley, I'm a freaking double agent." She rolled the eyes that were still situated on the slumbering figure.

"Shouldn't we wake him?" Ginny said, mimicking Pansy's softer tones unconsciously.

Pansy shook her head. "No, let him rest, he looks exhausted."

Ginny was about to make a smart retort to that when she finally caught the look on Pansy's face. She was still staring at Draco but the way she was looking at him was soft, almost tender. It was the way her mother looked at her children when they had done something particularly thoughtful, in which case seeing as none of her brothers ever _did_ anything thoughtful, Harry was the sole recipient.

Clearing her throat pointedly and trying to ignore the feeling of quiet jealousy now radiating through her, Ginny turned to Pansy.

"So I guess I need to debrief you about what happened last night."

And she launched into a detailed version of their tryst to Narcissa Malfoy's villa leaving out choice descriptions about some of the evasion tactics used. For some reason Ginny didn't think Pansy needed a play by play of Draco feeling her up in an ally, no matter what the circumstance. When Ginny was done with her account, Pansy was frowning.

"Are you sure you were being followed by a wizard?"

Ginny nodded, "We heard him dissaparate as soon as the rent-a-cop appeared. Why, you don't think it was a Death Eater?"

"I don't know. I don't recall Lucius giving anyone orders to tail anyone. I'm pretty sure he isn't even aware of your presence yet. You've only been here a day. But it might be anyone. Someone could be acting alone."

Ginny's brow creased. "Why would they want to act alone? One little tip off to Lucius and our whole cover would be blown wide open and Death Eaters would be on us like stink on a Dementor. If they know who we are why wait to bring us down?"

Pansy looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe, they're suspicious but they aren't a hundred percent sure who you are. You could be from a number of agencies. Even the muggle authorities are involved in tracking down rogue Death Eaters. Shacklebolt meant business when he started this whole operation."

Ginny nodded again. "He sure was. He lost a lot of good people during the war."

An awkward silence stole over the two women then. Pansy seemed not to know what to say to Ginny's statement and Ginny had nothing further to share.

"Well," Pansy finally said, "I'll just keep a better watch on the Death Eater's activities then. Maybe I can coax something out of Lucius about any side projects he's working on that he's not sharing with the underlings." She stood up to leave.

Ginny wrinkled her nose at the different ways Pansy probably had of 'coaxing' things out of Lucius and had to suppress a shiver. She definitely did not envy the other girls postion. Pansy had already taken out her wand to dissaparate when a sudden thought struck Ginny.

"Parkinson," Ginny called out.

"Did you forget something?" Pansy cocked a dark brow.

"No. I wanted to know something. What made you want to come over to the light side?" Ginny asked, genuinely curious.

Pansy turned to face her, "I heard you guys had cookies." And with a final smirk she twirled on the spot and disappeared with a loud _pop._

Ginny shook her head not surprised at the fact that she didn't get a straight answer. It was a rather personal question and even though he was her partner, it wasn't one she had even broached to Draco yet.

_Plus, we do have cookies._ Ginny thought to herself. _Harry still owes me one._ Thinking about cookies however got Ginny thinking about her mothers homemade chocolate chip cookies and the yearning for Molly Weasley's baking overwhelmed her. Forgetting all about her strange meeting with Pansy and the sleeping blonde in the room, Ginny headed over the fireplace and threw a pinch into the flames yelling, "The Burrow!"

_1 hour later…_

Ginny pushed a wisp of stray hair behind her ear as she turned the beeping timer off on the oven. She had gotten in contact with her mother, exchanging pleasantries and in her case, the recipe to her famous melt-in-your-mouth cookies. Wiping her sweaty palms on her rather short apron, Ginny opened the oven to reveal a cookie sheet full of perfectly shaped ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies. She let her eyes drift shut as the aroma wafted up and filled the kitchen. Placing the cookie sheet on top of the stove to cool, Ginny was just walking towards the pantry to dispose of her apron when she heard a rustle from the living room and the sound of someone yawning. A few seconds later Draco was standing in the doorway, looking disheveled but rested.

"Do I smell cookies?" He asked stepping into the kitchen fully.

"Maybe," Ginny said, eyeing him warily. She didn't know how Draco's mood would be after just waking up and hoped dearly that he wasn't anything like Ron.

"Where's Pansy? How long was I out?" Draco asked, leaning on the counter across from where Ginny was searching for a plate for her cookies.

"She left. And about an hour, you were passed out so I caught her up on last night without you, I hope that's okay." Ginny replied, removing her apron.

That seemed to wake Draco up a little. Ginny watched in guilty satisfaction as Draco's eyes widened a fraction at the sight of her attire. She was wearing a short bleach washed jean skirt that was artfully torn and frayed at the edges, showing off her toned but still rather pale legs, and a blue and white stripped halter top that showed off her ample cleavage which was pushed up rather high by the black bikini she was wearing underneath. But as soon as the look was there, it was gone, once again replaced with the quiet indifference of someone that was observing a rock formation or something equally boring.

_Hmm, interesting,_ Ginny thought, turning away quickly to hide her grin. She opened another cupboard above her and found the plate she was looking for, but Ginny, being vertically challenged in nature, had a hard time reaching it. Standing up on her tip toes she reached up with one hand to balance herself while she stretched the other one up to grab at the elusive plate. This position however, had caused her already short top, to ride up further, revealing a fair amount of flat, creamy stomach as she was turned sideways from Draco's point of view.

"Stupid plate," Ginny mumbled as her fingertips brushed the edge of the dish and reached even further making her shirt ride up a few more inches.

"Here," Draco said quickly, seemingly forgetting about their earlier conversation. He reached up and removed the plate from its resting place high on the shelf and set it down before Ginny.

"Thanks," Ginny smiled brightly at him

Draco only nodded.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

_In the dream, he was running. Running through the woods away from the dark hulking figure of something he could not identify. His breath came out in ragged gasps as the figure drew ever nearer. His legs felt like lead as he willed them further into the woods away from the darkness that threatened to overwhelm him. _

_Draco glanced up, and suddenly ahead of him was a halo of light. It glowed bright in the dim forest and sparkled with an almost ethereal quality. As he drew nearer the light grew brighter almost as if it were drawing strength from his presence. The orange glow pulsated, the light throbbing and growing as each frantic step took him closer to the lustrous globe. But just as he thought was near enough to reach out and touch the mysterious orb, it vanished, dissipating into a million little particles and raining down on him like a mini meteor shower and he was suddenly blinded by the glittering shards. It was then that he realized that along with the expelling of the orb the dark figure chasing him had also disappeared. _

_Looking around frantically for his pursuer, Draco repeatedly on the spot until he heard a distant sound; it sounded like strangely like the sound plastic made when it hit metal…_

Draco's eyes snapped open. He rolled over onto his stomach to examine the clock hanging on the wall. He had been asleep for almost an hour. Groaning, he gingerly sat up, yawning and stretching as he followed the noise that he thought he had dreamt into the kitchen where the actual source was. Drawing nearer his senses were overwhelmed with the smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and he had to hide a grin.

_Weasley bakes_?

He was aware of her mother's talents as a cook from the numerous conversations he had walked in on with Wonder Boy and his trusty Side Kick but Ginny had never struck him as the type to sit at home and bake. It was positively _domestic._

"Do I smell cookies?" He said as the announcement to his arrival.

"Maybe," Ginny replied looking apprehensive for some reason. The girl looked as though she was going to bolt any minute.

"Where's Pansy? How long was I out?" Draco continued his inquires, ignoring Ginny's discomfort.

"She left. And about an hour, you were passed out so I caught her up on last night without you, I hope that's okay." Ginny reached up to remove her apron then and Draco felt his eyes widen a bit.

She was wearing a skirt; a very _short _skirt that showed off her surprisingly shapely legs quite nicely and a rather tight tank top with her bikini poking out underneath. Draco's eyes traveled his way from her flip flop clad feet all the way to the slight scowl that now graced her lips and he quickly rearranged his face to that of stoic indifference that he had mastered thanks to his father.

When he looked at her face again, she looked amused and he silently cursed himself for letting his mind run away with him. He was Draco Malfoy, he could have any women he wanted; Women more beautiful, more sophisticated, more proper, and well groomed than the likes of Ginny Weasley and her stupid weird sisters t-shirt obsession. Draco was about to tell her as much when he spotted Ginny reaching above her head to a particularly high shelf, fingers brushing a ceramic looking plate.

"Stupid plate," she muttered lifting herself on her toes, making her shirt ride up a few significant inches, revealing a creamy white expanse of flat stomach for Draco's viewing pleasure.

Without thinking, knowing full well it was probably honed in from years of unbreakable habit thanks to good breeding, Draco reached up immediately to pluck the wayward plate from the vertically challenged red head and placed it before her.

"Thanks," She said gratefully as she regained her usual posture and height, her shirt falling back into place above the waistband of her skirt.

Draco, who found himself slightly disappointed at the loss of view and didn't trust his voice, so he just nodded at her while Ginny busied herself with stacking the cookies on the newly retrieved plate. Draco watched quietly while she worked, putting stray dishes and bowls away and taking out a second batch of cookies from the oven.

"These one's need to cool for a little while but the ones on the plate are ready if you want to try one. And don't worry they're not poisoned," She added seeing the look on his face, for at the mention of the cookies he had shot her a cautious glance of suspicion.

If it weren't for the fact that the aroma wafting from the freshly baked cookies could only be described as heavenly and he had, had an undeniable sweet tooth since his childhood, Draco would have made a snappy retort about her cooking abilities and declined. But as it was, his mouth was beginning to water at the sight of the confections and he couldn't resist. Taking a particularly gooey looking one off the top he bit into it and felt his eyes close in a moment of sugary bliss.

He heard Ginny laugh and his eyes snapped back open.

"Good?" She asked, her eyes twinkling merrily at him.

He looked at her levelly and said after swallowing, "If I say yes will you behave?"

"Define behave," She returned, remembering the reference from the night of Harry's party.

"Where did you learn how to make these?" He asked instead of answering her.

"My mum. It's her recipe." Ginny said and she seemed to be bracing herself for something.

Draco ignored her sudden discomfort and replied steadily, "Be sure to send her my compliments. These are probably the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had." He pretended not to notice the look of utter astonishment on Ginny's face and polished off his cookie in one bite.

"Er, thanks I'll do that," The red head seemed to be momentarily flustered before remembering the second sheet of cookies and started on them at once.

Draco stood there silently watching her work as she cleaned up the kitchen, wiping down the counters, washing the used bowls and cookie sheet in the sink, and finally finding an empty cookie jar to deposit the remainder of the batch. There were only a few dozen left, for Draco had eaten three more cookies in the time that it took Ginny to finish tidying up.

She was drying her hands on the towel hanging by the sink when she suddenly whirled to face him. "I feel like going for a swim. Would my doting husband like to join me?" Her eyes were shining again, with that matching smile to go underneath and Draco found himself thinking he liked it. She was being unflinchingly nice this morning and it was slightly irksome but not altogether unpleasant. He decided to throw her a bone.

"Why not?" He shrugged, making sure he looked noncommittal about it and went to go change.

When he came back out of the bedroom five minutes later in his swim trunks and a plain white t-shirt, Ginny was already waiting for him at the door with two beach towels, sunscreen, and a giant umbrella in hand and sunglasses on her already freckled face.

"Ready?"

He nodded and eyed the beach ware in her hands. "Here," He said walking up to her and removing the umbrella and beach towels from her hands. "I'll take those."

"How gentlemanly of you," Ginny said. And Draco could tell she was trying to hide the shock in her voice.

"Of course," He smirked. "How would it look for a 'doting husband' to be seen letting his wife carry all the baggage?"

He could have imagined it, but Draco swore he thought he saw her deflate a bit at his sentiment.

"It would make him look like a total wanker that's what," Ginny said and that cheerfulness was back.

The walk to the beach was short since their house pretty much rested right on it's shores. Since their beach residence was on a private strip of shore, there were very few other people on the beach so Draco had plenty of space to set up the umbrella while Ginny laid out their towels. Once that was done, Ginny reached over for the bottle of sunscreen that Draco had already squeezed a liberal amount of into his palm and he saw as Ginny quirked a brow that could be seen over the lens of her sunglasses.

"What? I burn easily." Draco took the immediate defensive.

"Really? I never would have guessed."

Ginny was grinning and Draco scowled, as he finished applying his lotion choosing not to comment. Ginny finished with her sun block before him.

"I'm gonna go test the water," She announced, taking her sun glasses off and Draco noticed for the first time that she had already shed her tank top and skirt. She was standing before him in a solid black string bikini that contrasted wildly with her fiery hair and Draco found himself thinking the combination was not altogether unpleasant.

Apparently he was not the only one to think so, for a little further down the beach, two men looking to be around their early twenties had slid their sunglasses down their noses to gawk openly at Ginny's bikini clad form and wolf whistle in their direction. Ginny had been lazy with her glamour today and instead of activating their talismans, she had transfigured her hair brunette and changed a few choice facial features as did Draco. Draco's hair was now a sandy blonde color, darker than his natural but still not as dark as Ginny's chestnut colored locks and it was a bit shorter than he usually wore it. He now also had an artificial tan with a slightly larger nose than his usual aristocratically sculpted one. From the neck down physically though, they wore their own bodies. Draco saw Ginny roll her eyes at the whistlers before starting her descent down to the beach, clearly ignoring the still ogling eyes that followed her all the way down to the waters edge.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Ginny stood in front of the water, looking down at the greenish blue waves as they swept a foamy blanket of water over her toes and closed her eyes. The water wasn't warm per say but it was pleasantly cool, just the right temperature for a warm day at the beach. She was just about to step in a little deeper when she heard the sound of sand being kicked up rapidly behind her and turned around—just as Draco came launching towards her, diving for her legs and throwing her over his shoulder in one, swift, swooping motion. Ginny shrieked in surprise and Draco carried her further into the frothing waves, Ginny gasping and pounding on his back.

"Mal—I mean Blake, _darling_," Ginny had to catch herself from calling him 'Malfoy' in public again. "Put me _down_ please."

"If you say so Catherine _dear_," Draco all but sneered back and dumped her unceremoniously into the now hip high water.

Ginny shrieked again as she hit the cool water, spluttering only for a moment as to regain some sort of dignity before standing up and wiping the sand and sea sodden hair out of her eyes.

"That. Was not nice honey," Ginny said grinning through her teeth.

"You looked like you needed something refreshing _sweetheart_. Plus I thought we were going to swim?"

"Fine, I'll race you. First one to get to that buoy and swim around it back here twice than get to our spot on the beach wins. Winner gets to choose their prize, ready go!" And before Draco could come up with a response, Ginny dove head fist into the water starting a swift breast stroke towards the red buoy that was bobbing about twelve yards away. She didn't look back to see if Draco was behind her.

As it turned out, Draco was an excellent swimmer and beat Ginny by almost an entire lap.

"Damn," Ginny said breathlessly once they were situated back on the beach lounging on their beach towels. "I'm bushed."

"I told you, you couldn't beat me," Draco said smugly. He was laying back on his towel with his arms folded behind his head, a self satisfied smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

"So what do you want?" Ginny asked.

Draco pretended to ponder for a moment while Ginny glared at him impatiently. After a few seconds he finally put her out of her misery.

"I think you should cook me dinner," He grinned.

"Are you trying to domesticate me?" Ginny said, feigning horror.

Draco blanched, "Good god woman, now why would I try a thing like that? I know a lost cause when I've seen one. That'd be like getting Potter to stop being heroic. It just isn't done."

Draco jumped out of the way quickly then, as Ginny swung at him to swat his arm but she couldn't stop the small quirk in her mouth from giving her away. The walk back to their house was a quite one, each party lost in their own thoughts. Ginny was thinking about her afternoon with Draco. It was almost been dare she say it? Pleasant. Draco really could be charming and nice when he wanted to be, but that was the problem, he rarely ever _wanted_ to be.

Upon return to the house, Ginny inspected the refrigerator to find it depressingly ill suited for any real hearty food to be made out of and turned to Draco.

"I'll need to go to the store later if you want anything fancier than buttered toast."

Draco didn't answer her. He was staring out the large bay windows in the living room looking up at the sky.

"It looks like it's going to rain," He said, ignoring her earlier sentiment.

"What? That's crazy; it was beautiful just a minute ago." Ginny said, walking up beside him to glance out the window herself. Looking up at the sky Ginny found that Draco was right. The dark storm clouds had already started to blot out parts of the sun and the clear blue skies were slowly materializing into a swirling grey haze.

"If you're going to the store," Draco said. "You better take an umbrella and go fast if you don't want to get caught in that." He pointed outside.

"Right. I'll be back in fifteen." And Ginny swiftly trotted into the bedroom emerging wearing jeans and a pullover, conjuring an umbrella with her wand before heading for the door.

"Be careful out there Weasley," Draco warned.

Ginny looked indignant. "I'm not a child Malfoy, I can handle a little bit of rain and thunder."

"That's not what I was talking about." He replied.

"I can take care of myself," She said and turned on her heel and marched out the front door before Draco could badger her about something else.

It was his fault she had to go out into the storm anyway with his sodding request for dinner of all things. _At least he didn't ask you for sexual favors_. She felt a tingle go down her spine at the thought and the image of Draco shirtless and dripping wet on the beach popped into her mind. Ginny squeezed her eyes shut against the image, willing it away as she wrapped her arms around herself against the fierce wind that had picked up. The sun was almost completely blotted out by dark charcoal clouds by now and Ginny picked up her pace. The streets were completely deserted as she made her way over to the small grocers on the corner of Main Street. This obviously did not surprise Ginny, for no _sane_ person would be out when a storm was this eminent.

Ginny had walked about three more paces before she got that prickly sensation on the back of her neck that told her she was being followed. Auror senses kicking in, she quickly resumed her pace, not giving the slightest indication that she knew of her pursuers presence. The store was just a few blocks ahead of her now and she neared the building with a sense of dread. The windows looked dark and the tell tale 'open' sign was nowhere to be seen. Walking up to the store front, Ginny peered into the darkened panes hoping that the owner was just on break when she spotted the handwritten note taped to the front pane of the door.

"_Closed Early Due to Storm"_

"Great," Ginny said, letting out a huge breath of exasperation. Looking around town, she realized now that the market wasn't the only shop closed for the day. The whole town seemed to have closed shop early due to the storm. She gave an involuntary shudder against the cold rain that had started to splatter against her, mixing in with the now vicious wind howling around her, whipping her hair against the side of her face. Cursing Draco Malfoy and his dinner plans to the deepest pits of hell, Ginny turned and made her way back up the high street fully aware that she was not alone out in the otherwise deserted streets.

Bowing her head down against the whipping wind and debris that now filled the air, Ginny tried in vain to get her umbrella open to shield her from the pelting rain. After several attempts, she finally turned her back to the wind and was able to wrench the umbrella open just as another violent burst of wind caught her—taking the umbrella with it.

"Damnit. Damnit all to hell," Ginny grumbled and she felt the prickly sensation again.

This time she did turn around, glancing furtively in every direction, before running under the overhang of a nearby shop, hoping to get some reprieve from the rain at least. It was a little dryer under the cover of the sidewalk but the wind was still as relentless as ever. She was reaching for her wand to cast the _impervious_ charm on herself, when she heard the squelching of wet boots hitting pavement behind her. If it weren't for her heightened senses from being on alert, she wouldn't have heard it at all over the fierce howling of the wind. Ginny whipped around quickly, taking her hand out of the pocket of her jumper hastily.

It was two men. One was tall with thick dark hair and bronze skin, the other one much shorter with wavy dark hair and equally dark eyes. He could have been Italian. Then it struck Ginny that they looked vaguely familiar.

"Can I help you gentleman?" Ginny said, trying to sound pleasant.

"Yeah. Now's what a sweet little thing like you doing out here all alone? Can't you see there's a storm coming?" The taller one spoke and the way he was leering at her made Ginny's skin crawl.

Then she realized why they looked familiar. They were the two men on the beach that had been whistling at her earlier.

"Saw you on the beach earlier today with that other bloke. Is that your boyfriend?" The Italian looking one said, stepping closer.

Ginny took a wary step back, itching to grab for her wand but didn't dare. "No actually he's my husband. I was just on my way to grab some things for dinner but the stores are all closed." She indicated around her with a sweeping hand at all the darkened store windows.

"So I see," The taller man said, also taking a step towards her. "Why don't we help you back to your place? We wouldn't want a young lady to get lost in the storm all by herself now would we?" His tone was probably meant to be soothing but to Ginny it sounded more creepy and menacing.

"Actually that's quite alright; I think I can manage by myself. I wouldn't want to burden you young gentleman with being in the storm for longer than necessary." As if emphasizing her statement, the wind suddenly picked up, sending a lawn chair in a nearby outdoor eating area flying across the high street. Ginny was almost yelling now to be heard over the wind.

"We insist," The shorter man persisted, stepping in front of the taller man now and extending a hand toward Ginny.

The situation was starting to get ridiculous. The storm was really picking up now, the sky darkened to a smoky grey, thunder clouds swirling in the mist above them and Ginny found herself strangely calmed. The thunder clouds were almost the exact color of Draco's eyes when he was angry or irritated…

"Again, thank you for your concern but I think I'll be on my way now," Ginny said, losing some of the pleasantness in her tone.

Ginny turned back in the direction of her house when she felt a hand snap out and grab her wrist, yanking her backward.

"You hear that? She thinks she's too good to let us walk her home," It was the taller of the two men, and he reached over and grabbed her other wrist, yanking her forward so she was standing directly in front of him.

Ginny didn't even flinch. She was staring at the man with barely controlled rage. Her hands were starting to go numb from the grip the man had on her wrists, otherwise they would have been shaking.

"Let go of me." Ginny said slowly and deliberately. "Or you will be very sorry that you ever laid eyes on me you hear?"

The short one laughed at her throwing his head back. "And what is little miss priss going to do about it?"

"Oh you know." Ginny took on a nonchalant tone. "A little bit of this." And lunged forward bringing her knee up into her captors groin. He let go of her wrist immediately hands going to his crotch. "And this." A right hook to the nose. "And—" She turned her attention to his companion then and froze.

He was standing a few paces back, and pointing a slim polished piece of wood at her. A wand. Ginny's mind was spinning. So these men weren't muggles, at least the short Italian looking one wasn't. She glanced over to the taller one. He was hunched over on the sidewalk, one hand on his groin, the other staunching his now bloody and probably broken nose.

"Bitch!" He spat out spraying blood on the wet pavement. It was raining harder now and all three parties were thoroughly soaked.

She gauged his reaction to see if he was as surprised as she was at the appearance of the wand. Shooting her a last hateful glare, he turned to his companion. "I think the Cruciatus would be a good one for her eh Dolohov?"

_Dolohov_. Ginny's mind reeled. These men weren't just wizards. They were Death Eaters. Most likely the same Death Eaters that had followed them the other night out of the restaurant.

"Good idea Yaxley. She looks like a screamer."

The taller one, who Ginny now knew to be Yaxley was slowly getting to his feet. The blood had stopped streaming from his nose and he seemed to be slightly bow legged but otherwise unscathed. Ginny watched as he too reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his wand. She was at a momentary loss at what to do next. Rain continued to the pelt the three strangers as the sounds of distant thunder could be heard. Ginny could feel the weight of her wand pressing against the damp flesh of her forearm like a ton of bricks but didn't dare reach for it yet. Yaxley and Dolohov obviously just thought she was a random muggle, having no idea that they had stumbled across a ministry auror sent under cover to arrest them. The thought would've made Ginny smile if it wasn't for the fact that she was out numbered two to one and wand less unless she wanted to blow her cover.

"You see that Dolohov? She doesn't even look scared." Yaxley drawled.

"Where are all the questions missy?" Dolohov chirped in.

" No 'Who are you?' 'What are those?' 'What do you want with me's?'" Yaxley taunted.

"Go fuck yourself," Ginny spat, all pretense of niceness gone.

"What did you say to me you cunt?" Dolohov stepped closer, stabbing his wand tip painfully under Ginny's chin.

Ginny's chin was jerked violently upward, making her face turn skyward and she lowered her eyes to meet Dolohovs borrowed ones. "I said." Ginny all put growled. "Go. Fuck. Your. Self." She annunciated each word saying each syllable deliberately knowing it would send him off, knowing she was pushing the limit and not caring. She had to keep them talking. She needed a distraction. Anything to take their attention off her for one moment so she could get to her wand.

Suddenly, the pressure under her chin vanished and replaced by a crushing back handed smack across her cheek. Ginny's head whipped sideways from the impact making her neck crack unpleasantly and felt her lip split. She turned her head forward again to see that Dolohov had abandoned the use of his wand and backed handed her with his other hand. A powerful blow nonetheless and Ginny's vision swam as she struggled to stay focused.

"Did you just bitch slap me Dolovhov?" She taunted and winced when the movement stretched at her bloody lip.

Dolohov raised his wand again but Yaxley was faster. "_Crucio!"_ He yelled and Ginny sank to her knees, writhing in agony, fighting the scream that was welling up in her throat. Her body felt like it was being pierced with a thousand daggers dipped in flame. She lay like that on the pavement, soaking wet, curled in the fetal position willing herself not to scream for what felt like hours and could only have been a few seconds.

The curse lifted and she gasped for breath, panting and wheezing as her vision flickered before her. The rolling thunder was coming closer now and lightening could be seen piercing the sky. Rain continued its tumult and pelted her face like thousands of tiny needles, stinging her cheeks and her bloody lip. Somewhere distantly she heard Yaxley and Dolohov laughing. She tried feebly to raise herself on her knees to stand up but her arms were like jelly, her whole body aching from the curse and soaked to the bone in freezing rain.

"Look she's still moving," Dolohov said. "Now that won't do. _Cruc_—"

Ginny didn't hear the rest of the curse uttered, for she chose that moment to black out.


	7. Pretend To Be Nice

**A/N:** Again, I am having a really hard time writing this story. To say this chapter was a "bitch" would be a serious understatement. I had half a mind to abandon it but I decided that I am not a quitter. For the few fans out there, thanks for the continued support, this one's for you.

**Devious Chapter 7: Pretend To Be Nice**

_*** But can't you just pretend to be nice  
Can you at least pretend to be nice  
If you could just pretend to be nice  
Then everything in my life would be alright_

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Ginny was floating. She didn't know where or how but all she could feel was the sheer weightlessness of her being floating around in the depths of her mind while she slept. And she was sure she was sleeping because no waking sensation could feel like this. It was like being stuck in the land between the conscious and the comatose; like floating in the space between the clouds and the rain. But then the aches started. It started in her toes and then slowly traveled its way up like the kissing licks of flame traveling up a paper tower. Soon, Ginny was engulfed in it, and the soreness and stiffness in her limbs became more apparent. Her head started to spin and she heard a strange clicking noise off in the distance.

_Click, click. Click. Click, click, click. _

Ginny's eyes sprang open and she regretted it immediately. Her head was pounding. It felt like garden gnomes had tunneled themselves into Ginny's head and taken residence there, pounding their little fists into her brain over and over. She squeezed her eyes shut again and opened them more slowly this time letting her eyes adjust. That's when her memories came flooding back. Ginny abruptly sat straight up, regretting it again as her head spun wildly at the sudden movement and took in her surroundings. She was lying in an unfamiliar four poster bed and felt a momentary surge of panic before she realized she was in the living room of the beach house.

"Finally, sleeping beauty awakens from her fitful slumber," A drawling voice said to her left.

Ginny glanced over to find Draco standing in the middle of the room. He was holding a candle lighter in his hand, clicking the flame on and off on and off explaining the clicking sound she thought she was hearing in her dream.

"I'm not still dreaming am I?" She said uncertainly.

"Although I'm probably the manifestation of a lot of people's dreams, you happen to be lucky in the fact that you are not dreaming and I am actually here to grace you with my presence." Draco said smirking and put the candle lighter down.

Ginny squinted to get a better view of Draco so she could see his face and realized the reason she had to squint in the first place was that the room was a lot dimmer than it usually was. Upon closer inspection Ginny discovered that it was lit all around with an array of candles. A fire was blazing merrily in the grate. A quick glance outside the window told her the storm was still in full swing.

"The power is out." Draco explained seeing the questioning look on Ginny's face. "It went out just a few minutes after you left."

"What happened? How did I get here? Start from the beginning. The last thing I remember is…"

Draco's face darkened. "You were attacked, by Dolohov and Yaxley. They were posing as muggle tourists and they corned you on the street. They put the—"

"Cruciatus curse." Ginny interrupted. "Yeah, that part I remember."

"Well they were getting ready for round two by the looks of it when Pansy found you. Then you must've blacked out cause' you were unconscious when she brought you in."

"When _Pansy_ found me? As in Parkinson?" Ginny was flabbergasted.

"When you didn't come back after a half an hour, I sent her after you. I couldn't risk blowing our cover to come after you myself," He said without emotion.

Not entirely sure if it was concern he was trying to mask Ginny asked, "What about her cover? How did she get me out of there?"

Draco was staring into the fire and spoke without looking at her, "She confunded them from behind, told them you were her sister and thanked them for finding you for her. They seemed to buy it at first then Dolohov decided to have half a brain and remembered that he had been torturing you. She had to obliviate them both after that and imperiused them to send them back to headquarters just to be safe. She got you into the house and helped get you into some dry clothes. We set you out here because it was closer to the fireplace. You were shivering like mad."

Ginny looked down at herself and realized that she was not wearing pajama's that were familiar to her. "Whose are these then?" Ginny asked. She highly doubted they were Pansy's since they were flannel. Pansy struck her as more of a silk, satin or lace kind of girl.

"Yours," Draco said, finally turning to look at her. "I transfigured them because I couldn't find anything warmer to put you in. You obviously didn't pack for colder weather."

"Well its July," She said defensively, "in the Hamptons."

A clap of thunder and lightning crashed outside the window then, making Ginny start convulsively as memories of being out in the melee with the two renegade Death Eaters seeped into her mind. She unconsciously grabbed the blanket and pulled it closer to her body as if it could shield her from her thoughts. Draco noticed.

"Are you still cold?"

And Ginny couldn't tell if it was genuine curiosity that laced his tone or concern. She mentally slapped herself for wanting it to be the latter.

"Yes," She lied.

Draco only pointed his wand at the grate, making the fire flare up and burn brighter, omitting a palpable increase of heat in the room. She didn't thank him. She was watching his face intently. Draco's face had not changed from his quietly neutral façade.

"Where's Pansy?" Ginny asked to break the silence.

A flicker of emotion shot across Draco's face then, as the façade cracked for moment. But as soon as it was there, it had gone.

"She went to do damage control. The Death Eaters can't know that you escaped. They thought you were a muggle. Even with their memories swiped they would know you had outside help. You don't just bounce back from a double dose of the Cruciatus, no matter how stubborn you are. I never should have let you go out there alone. You didn't do magic in front of them did you?" The last question came out like an accusation and Ginny's temper flared.

"No I didn't use magic in front of them. What do I look like? You know, you're lack of faith in my ability as an auror is really growing tired Malfoy. And you're the one that wanted dinner out of the stupid bet; I was just trying to hold up my end of the bargain. If we can't trust each other, this is never going to work. I refuse to be treated like a child," She huffed, out of breath.

Draco's brows disappeared into his hair. "A simple 'no' would have sufficed."

Ginny gaped at him. It was like he hadn't listened to a word she'd said. Ginny knew that there was no love lost between the two of them, and it didn't help that their families had hated each other since the dawn of time. Or that her brother and ex boyfriend had picked fights with him all through school, (although he did instigate a lot of them) and that Hermione had slapped him across the face once. And the bat bogey thing, that didn't help either. But despite all that, it was quite a shock for Ginny to feel the tiniest bit hurt that he didn't seem to care what happened to her at all. I mean she had just had the god damn Cruciatus curse put on her. Twice.

Pushing down ill feelings toward the arrogant blonde in front of her she only said, "A simple 'no' wouldn't have gotten my point across but a fat lot of good that did me since I don't think I got anything across to you anyway." She didn't know why she was being so damn sensitive. Like she really cared what he thought.

He must've caught something in her voice though, because he was looking at her curiously. "Are you crying?" He sounded incredulous.

And Ginny was shocked to find that her eyes were indeed starting to feel moist in the corners.

"I need to shower," She said, turning away abruptly and turning to slide off the bed.

It was quite a bit higher than she had anticipated and with the combination of her previous vertigo and her weakened state, she stumbled when her feet made impact with the floor. Draco was there before she had time to register that she was about to fall. Her head was spinning from moving so suddenly and if Draco hadn't been holding her up, she was sure her knees would have given out. As it was they did give out as soon as she had finished the thought. Draco grabbed her around the waist, hoisting her up as if she weighed nothing, hooking his arms under her knees and placing her back on the bed.

"You are in no fit condition to go anywhere but back to sleep," He said in a matter-of-fact voice that made Ginny feel twelve years old again.

Her skin burned where he had touched her and it made her suddenly hyper aware of just how thin her pajamas were despite the flannel.

"Don't tell me what to do," Ginny said, embarrassed and angry that she couldn't even storm off in a huff when she wanted to without his assistance. It just didn't have the same dramatic affect if the person you were trying to run away from had to come a _catch_ you as you failed miserably at running away.

Draco sighed dramatically. "If you really want to take a shower, I can carry you if you like." He was looking at the ceiling as he said this and Ginny felt a pang of annoyance shoot through her.

_Is the thought of touching me really that daunting?_ She wondered. _He didn't seem to have a problem when he was dumping me in the ocean._ She continued sourly.

"I'd prefer it if you kept your ferrety claws off me, thanks." Ginny retorted scathingly hoping to hit a nerve.

It didn't work. Draco just shrugged. "Suit yourself, if you're not going to shower than I will."

Ginny seethed silently as she watched Draco walk into the master bedroom. Draco Malfoy was just a gift that just kept on giving. Another clap of thunder came, this time closer, shaking the house with its impact, a jagged shard of lightning slicing through the sky outside. The tumultuous downpour was deafening as it pounded on the glass windows and Ginny felt suddenly very alone in the candlelit room. When she heard the shower turn on, she slipped (slowly this time) off the bed, only having a momentary lack in balance in which she grabbed the bed post to steady herself and padded slowly into the master bedroom. She was still shaky from the impact of the curse so it took a lot longer than she wanted it to but finally she reached the door way.

The master bathroom door was slightly ajar when she got there and Ginny could hear the continuous running of water from behind it. After a few seconds of searching, Ginny found what she was looking for: Her wand sitting on the bedside table. She was about to limp back into the living room when she caught sight of the clock on the far wall. It was six thirty. As if on cue, her stomach gave an almighty rumble and she placed a placating hand over it. Limping slightly Ginny headed back into the kitchen to see what she could scrounge up.

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and glass of milk later Ginny, wand lit, slowly made her way back to the master bedroom to see where Draco was at with his shower. Making her way into the room, she found Draco with his back to her wrapped in a fluffy blue towel from the waist down digging through his drawers. He glanced up at her arrival. Water droplets still clung to his torso and his hair hung in a damp halo around his head making his usually white blonde hair look gold. He seemed completely unconcerned of his indecency as he watched her approach.

"I need to shower," Ginny said, pointedly looking at the spot a few inches left of his face.

"It's all yours," Draco said, only looking mildly surprised to see her walking about on her own.

After a nice hot shower to soothe her nerves and aching muscles, Ginny was in a much better mood. Her legs were still a bit wobbly when she walked but she figured that would go away after a few hours more rest. Stepping out of the steamy shower into the candle lit bathroom Ginny quickly toweled off her hair, wrapping the towel around her body as she exited the bathroom—and found Draco laying on the bed looking right at her. His hair was still damp from his own shower and he had put clothes on—kind of anyway. He was wearing flannel pajama bottoms. Nothing else. Ginny was suddenly very conscious of how short the towel she was wearing seemed to be and that he was still staring at her.

Ignoring the burning look he was giving her, Ginny made to retreat to the walk in closet when another earsplitting crack of thunder pierced the sky. Ginny gave another little start at the noise; almost dropping her towel and she swore she saw Draco smirk in the darkness. Once inside the closet away from his prying eyes, Ginny ditched the flannel, reaching for something lighter, deciding that it wasn't so cold with the fire burning and candles lit everywhere. Freshly changed, she cast a quick drying charm on her hair and exited the closet, finding the candles all extinguished. Not wanting to bother him if he were asleep already, Ginny quickly made her way over to the giant four poster in the living room.

Crawling under the covers once more Ginny wondered how Draco could sleep when the wind was howling so loudly. Ginny eventually nodded off, with thoughts of Death Eaters and what the Cruciatus curse felt like still fresh in her mind. A few hours later, a pounding sound coming from the front door awoke Ginny with a start. The storm was still unyielding. A glance outside told her that mother nature's war zone was still in effect. Sliding off the bed, Ginny went to investigate the pounding coming from the front door. A quick look through the peep hold told her that the screen door to the house was dangerously close to being ripped off its hinges and she quickly muttered a sticking charm on the door, sealing the door shut.

Making her way back to the bed, Ginny found she was wide awake. She had always had trouble sleeping through storms, ever since she was a child. Her bedroom, being on the upper level of a multileveled home with precarious foundations to begin with, didn't serve to be a confidence booster when the fierce winds and harsh thunder wracked her house and shook it on his frame. In the end, she had always ended up in Bill or Charlie's room. The twins and Ron slept like rocks and Percy was always so indignant at being woken up that Ginny would've rather lost a whole nights worth of sleep than listen to his lecturing. Bill and Charlie, being the oldest, had had larger beds, and whenever a particularly large storm hit, whenever they heard the squeak of their door hinges, they'd scoot over automatically, giving her room to snuggle in. Those were always the nights she slept the best. When Bill and Charlie were away at school, Ginny would suffer many sleepless nights alone in her room, listening to the tumult outside and wishing her big brothers were there to hug all her fears away. It got to the point where her mother started to notice the bags under her eyes after the heavy storms and wrote to Bill, concerned about her daughter's apparent phobia. That was the year that Ginny received a giant stuff dragon for Christmas. The note simply read: _For the nights you need a ride into dream land. _ It hadn't been signed, but Ginny knew.

That had been years ago, however and the stuffed dragon now lay on her bed in her old room at the Burrow and Bill was in Egypt and Charlie in Romania. Ginny shivered despite the still burning fire in the grate. The fire had burned down into bright coals in the hearth but was still distributing quite a bit of warmth into the room. She shook her head at herself thinking, _Here I am, a fully trained auror on probably one of the most important under cover missions of my career and possibly life, I've gotten tortured by two death eaters, and I'm shaking in my boots cause of a damn lightning storm. _There was another deafening crash of thunder and Ginny squeezed her eyes shut, heart hammering wildly in her chest; the irrational fear gripping her like an iron fist. She couldn't keep this up much longer or she was going to have a mental break down. Slipping down from her perch on the high four poster once more, Ginny quickly switched her resolve with her pride, locking away the latter in the deepest cavity of her soul before padding silently down the hallway.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Draco was asleep. Or at least he thought he had been when he heard the slow creak of the bedroom door opening slowly. His senses went into immediate alert but he dared not open his eyes. Then he had a confusing thought. If there was an intruder in the house, he/she would've had to by pass Ginny since she was in the living room. Unless they had broken in from the back in which case the wards that were protecting what he was hiding out there would have been breached. Which they weren't or Draco would have felt it. Furrowing his brows in the dark, he slowly opened his eyes.

He saw red.

"Malfoy?" Ginny whispered.

She was currently hovering over his head, sheets of her hair falling over one shoulder in a cascade of waves. In the dying candle light her head looked like a halo of flame and Draco found himself wanting to reach out and touch it.

"What are you doing?" He snapped before the impulse could over take him.

Ginny bit her lip. She was embarrassed about something.

"Can I—I mean, I can't sleep," She said quietly. So quietly that Draco had to strain to hear her even though she was standing right over him, because she didn't seem able to meet his gaze.

"So?" He prodded, irritation seeping into his tone now. "Do you need me to read you a bedtime story or something?"

Another crash of lightening sounded very close to the house, sounding as though it had struck right outside the window and Ginny flinched convulsively shutting her eyes as if willing the storm away with her thoughts. Draco stared at her.

"Are you afraid of thunder storms Weasley?"

To Draco's utter shock Ginny nodded mutely, eyes still resolutely shut. She seemed to be bracing herself for the cutting remark. The snide comment or ridicule that was sure to come from this revelation. Draco stole this chance to study her face. She was paler than she normally was; the slight color she got in the sun from earlier in the day bleached out of her skin in the pale glow of the dying flickers of candles. Her hair was a wild halo of reddish gold around her face and the fair amount of skin that was exposed from her choice of bed wear which Draco now noticed was covered in goose pimples. There were also bags under her eyes.

He must have been quiet for longer than he realized because those eyes popped open suddenly to meet his cool gray ones. She was shivering now but her gaze was steady. Draco realized for the first time how much it had taken for her to come to him like this. The pride she must be repressing and the failed dignity.

Wordlessly he shifted over on the bed, making room for her, throwing the corner of the sheet back to let her in. If Ginny was shocked at his action, she didn't show it. She just crawled into the sheets next to him as if she climbed into bed with her sworn nemesis every night. He didn't look at her, but felt the weight shift on the bed as she turned on her side, presumably to face away from him. He risked a quick glance in her direction and discovered that he had assumed correctly, but the slight movement of his head had caused him to catch of whiff of her shampoo. It was a warm sugary kind of smell with something spicy mixed in, vanilla maybe, with a slight hint of cinnamon.

Mainly to distract himself from the enticing aroma Ginny was omitting, Draco thought back to the events of earlier that afternoon.

"Weasley," He found himself saying into the darkness.

"Hmm?" Ginny's voice was faint. She sounded sleepy

"I'm sorry I wasn't there today. I should've been with you. We're partners and I was supposed to be watching your back."

"Don't be stupid," Ginny murmured, and she sounded more awake now. "I was just nipping out to get some groceries. Neither one of us could've known I was going to be attacked by Death Eaters in disguise. Talk about ironic. We'll just need to be extra careful."

Then he heard her giggle.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class Weasley?"

"A Malfoy apologizing to a Weasley and for failing to protect me no less, and only for me to be rescued by Pansy Parkinson of all people, it _has_ been a crazy day."

"You're ruining the magic Weasel. Go to sleep."

He was met with silence and just when he thought she had finally nodded off…

"Malfoy?" Ginny whispered so suddenly that Draco actually flinched.

"What?" He was staring straight ahead.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Seriously. Ever." And he could swear that he could almost feel the grin that was undoubtedly on the red heads face as she cuddled deeper into the covers.

**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Sunlight streamed in through the sheer curtains of the master bedroom, illuminating the two prone figures on the bed like a spotlight. Ginny was the first one to stir. The first thing she realized was the orange glow she could see through her eyelids meant that the storm was over. The second thing she realized was that she couldn't move. Her eyes snapped open and she looked down. A pale but rather pleasantly muscled arm was draped over her waist and her back seemed to be pressed up against something solid and warm.

Draco.

The events of the previous day did a fast forward play back in her head as she recollected how she'd ended up in bed with her nemesis-turned-partner. Not wanting to wake him for fear of the awkward-morning-conversation, no matter how innocent last night was, Ginny gingerly turned over underneath his arm to gaze at Draco's face.

He looked so tranquil. His hair looked pale gold under the early morning rays, tousled lightly from sleep, his face clear of any evidence of a smirk or a sneer. Ginny also noticed for the first time that he was not wearing a shirt. Gazing at his sleeping form, she was reminded of a statue of a sleeping Adonis. Letting her eyes slip lower she noticed a faint scar on his left shoulder. It was about two inches long and ran diagonally from shoulder to where it connected with his pectoral muscle.

Ginny's eyes flew wide as a hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her wrist. In her haze, she hadn't realized that she had reached out to trace the faint scar lightly with her finger tips. She looked up. Draco's eyes were still closed but he had a firm grip around her left wrist. He opened his eyes to stare at her and for a moment Ginny thought he was going to be angry.

"That tickles," He said.

And for some reason this made the blood rush straight to her cheeks, staining them a rich crimson. She mumbled a quick apology and pulled her hand back, getting out of bed now that she was freed from Draco's arms. Ginny stood up and suppressed a shudder, ignoring the sudden feeling of emptiness that action spurned. Glancing around for her bedroom slippers, Ginny found them at the foot of the bed and proceeded to slip them on when she felt a pair of eyes boring into her.

When she looked up Draco, was staring at her with a lazy, half lidded expression, hands folded behind his head and the tell tale smirk firmly in place. She was about to ask him just what the hell he was staring at when she caught where his eye line was pointed.

"Cold Weasley?"

Ginny looked down at her silk camisole and suppressed a groan. She had not worn a bra to bed last night. And now it was painfully obvious. She crossed her arms.

"Pig." She sneered before marching into the bathroom and slamming the door on his pompous leering face.

Once under the relaxing stream of hot water, Ginny finally relaxed, closing her eyes and letting the spray loosen her muscles. While her body started to unwind from the traumatic events of the night before, her mind was busy wandering over the less traumatic and more interesting events of the evening. She had no idea why Draco consented to letting her sleep in his bed last night, though Ginny thought she was fairly sure he felt bad about what had happened. But that would mean Ginny admitting to the fact that Draco Malfoy had _feelings_. Right. Her next thought was that he was just too tired to argue.

"_Why am I even thinking so much about it?"_ She reprimanded herself.

Then her mind conjured up the image of how he looked when she woke up this morning: hair tousled carelessly from sleep, stormy eyes half lidded, the feel of his hand around her wrist, his bare chest and how it had felt when she ran her finger tips across his scar…

Ginny's eyes snapped open, abruptly turning the faucet to cold.

A/N 2: Yeah I know not much happened and it was short, but I had to end it somewhere and I'm going to be out of town this weekend so I wanted to give you SOMETHING. I will try my very best to get the next chapter out quicker since the plot is moving along now. Again thank you to all those who read and even more to those who review!


End file.
